A Photo Is Worth A Thousand Blushes
by Jordiscy
Summary: The guys take on a job to model for a photo shoot, and they recruit Sang to be the female model alongside them at the last minute. Oh, and didn't they mention to her these pictures are a little saucy to be put on the covers of romance novels?
1. The Deal

**Ms. Christine**

The day was perfect for a spring in South Carolina. As soon as I got this consultation appointment over with, I was going to pull out my camera and take a few pictures here in the park as the sun started to set. I could never miss such an opportunity to capture beauty in a photograph. I made a mental note to thank this Mr. Blackbourne person for suggesting meeting the models he managed in the park. It really got my creative juices going, and I had a good feeling this gig was going to be great.

I checked my little notebook and tried to decipher my own scribbling to remember the name of the contact of the guys I was to meet. _Dakota Lee_? That sounded right. I mildly wondered if that was his real name, or one he gave himself to fit into the modeling industry better. I could never tell with the people I worked with professionally.

I walked along the park path until I got to the picnic shelter Mr. Blackbourne told me his team would be at. Surprisingly, seven male bodies were already under it, chatting lively with each other or tapping into their phones. I had never known professional models to be punctual before, especially when they came in large groups. This job might turn out easier than I was predicting it to be.

"Mr. Dakota Lee?"

Seven faces turned to me simultaneously. My fingers itched for my camera already. These models were top of the line. If I wasn't a lesbian in a happy and committed relationship, I admitted I would have been drooling.

The one with black rim glasses dressed in pressed khakis and a polo buttoned up to his Adam's apple cleared his throat and came toward me with an offered hand. "Call me Kota. Ms. Christine, I take it?"

I nodded and shook his hand firmly. "That's right. I talked to your manager at the agency, but I don't know how familiar you are with this gig. Do we need to discuss the particulars?"

He shook his head and smiled warmly. "All of us," he reached behind him to indicate the other men behind him, "have already been briefed. There was just one point we wanted to make sure was understood by everyone involved to make sure we are all on the same page."

"Of course," I replied. "Let's sit while we get things ironed out, then I will want everyone lined up in the sun to see what we have to work with."

Kota and I settled down across from each other at a picnic table. I set up my notebook before me, ready for notes. I was fully aware the other models were hovering nearby, within earshot, and quiet enough to overhear the conversation. It was nice to know they were interested in what they were signing up to do. The models I have worked with before were so self-absorbed, they usually tended toward the obnoxious and actually made it really difficult to work. I appreciated this fresh breath of professionalism. These guys were very likely going to get high recommendations to my clients if this pace kept up.

Kota beckoned to one of the guys, and he obediently perched next to Kota. This one was lean with prominent collar bones sticking out from the undone top buttons of his silk shirt. He was going for a punk look with bright stud earrings peering out from under medium brown hair. Two blond locks fell from his forehead and tickled his cheeks. He had a genuinely happy smile.

"This is Gabriel Coleman, our stylist and makeup artist," Kota introduced to me. Gabriel shook my hand. "We would like to have him assist with costuming and to be responsible for our hair and makeup."

I would not complain about that. If I did not have to call up my own usual stylist or the makeup girl. That opened up a lot of money in the budget for this shoot. "I have no problems with that. I have a modest dressing room at my studio with the standard styling tools." I met Gabriel's gaze to address him directly. "Can you provide the makeup?"

Gabriel smiled and nodded. "Not a problem." His voice was deep and fit for a singer.

Kota nodded as if satisfied. "Is there anything else on the table we need to clear up?"

I scribbled in my notebook so I wouldn't forget Mr. Coleman's name. "I don't have anything pressing. Shall we get started on selecting which of you guys will be my victims?"

A couple of them snickered before Kota barked out a single syllable command. Every single one of them snapped to attention like soldiers. "Line up on the lawn by height. Face the sun." His tone was full of authority.

Color me impressed.

I stood before them with my back to the sun, studying their features and analyzing which would fit the bill for what my client wanted. Each of them had aspects and qualities the camera could capture beautifully, and they all varied from one another. They ranged from suave and delicately handsome to rugged and massively gorgeous male specimens. One was downright intimidatingly scary, and that was perfect for one set I had lined up. I was planning on only picking two from the gaggle of guys. I could change their appearances enough with different lighting, costumes, and makeup between sets. However, the decision as to which two was hard. I didn't think I could settle with a pair and not regret passing up the rest.

An idea came to me like the flash of a camera. "Every one of you, as of now, are available for the shoot dates?"

Kota, in the taller half of the line, answered, "Yes ma'am."

"Then let's keep it that way. Since you will be providing your own stylist, the budget opens up significantly. I'd like to reserve all seven of you, but have each of you do only one set each. I like what I'm seeing too much to say no to any of you."

"Any objections?" Kota asked to his fellow models. With silence as his answer, he followed up with, "All in agreement say 'aye!'"

Seven of them choruses in unison.

It was rare for the photographer to get their way in this industry. My mind's eye was already dreaming up the possibilities. "We had two dates open and we were going to settle on only one, whichever was the most convenient for the few who got lucky. I think we need to utilize both days now. Is that acceptable?

Kota nodded.

I clapped in glee. "Perfect! You! And you!" I pointed my finger at the tallest with the widest shoulders and the one with the biggest muscle definition that had reddish hair. "Bring jeans and cowboy boots. I don't think I have a pair that will fit you," I said while waggling eyebrows at the tall one. He smirked.

My finger found and isolated the one with waves of brown hair with slender hips disappearing into black slacks. "If you have one, bring your best fitting waist coat and slacks like those."

"You," I indicated the blonde one with beach waves, "and Gabriel. Bring your swimming trunks. Trunks, not Speedos." The blonde beamed and tried to hold back a giggle.

"Kota and you," I pointed to the remaining one, the most intimidating of the crowd clad in all black, "wear black leather." I made eye contact with Kota. "Can you work without glasses?"

He replied with another firm, "Yes ma'am," as a light red color tinged his cheeks.

"Now come here and tell me your names so I can write it down with whatever I just told you to bring."

The broke their formation and politely informed me of what I asked.

Kota stepped forward with his hand out again, and we shook once more to signify we had come to terms with our business. "Mr. Blackbourne will be in contact with you shortly to negotiate any changes in figures if necessary. You have his business card." I nodded to confirm.

"It was a pleasure meeting every single one of you. I look forward to working together in two weeks, gentlemen."


	2. Change of Plans

**Sang**

"Oh, but Honey," I whined, putting extra pout into my lip. "I don't need a baby sitter."

Nathan shook his head back and forth at me as he tied his shoes. "You know that doesn't work on me, Peanut. I don't know why you even try." Just as he got the laces tight, I heard vibrating coming from his butt. He sat up and fished his phone from his back pocket and tapped at it. "Don't think of it as baby sitting. Think of it as making sure you never get lonely."

Well, he did have a point there. I frequently found myself longing for one of the boys the few moments I had in no one's company. Still, the implication they had to work around keeping me supervised still felt insulting. Surely they knew I was able to be independent, and strong, and... and...

"It's all taken care of already, so don't fuss."

As if on cue, my boob vibrated. Then it chimed a happy tune. Nathan was slipping his keys into his pockets when he looked up at me and smirked. I blushed as I reached down the neck of my shirt and pulled my phone out of the cup of my bra. Glancing at the screen, I saw that Kota was calling me.

Nathan leaned over me where I was perched on the couch and kissed me tenderly on the lips before I could answer the call. "Best pockets ever." His lips pressed against my forehead before he jogged to the door and threw it open. "Bye, Peanut!"

"Bye, Honey," I called back as I accepted the call and lifted the phone to my ear. "Hi, Kota."

"Hi, Sang." The feeling of loss and longing for Nathan's departure were soon overshadowed by the anticipation and feeling of acceptance by Kota's voice saying my name. I should really stop complaining about the baby sitting issue, because I can't seem to lose. "Mind walking over to my place?" Kota asked me. "We want to talk to you about something."

"Sure. I'll be right over."

In the background, I could hear vibrant cursing in another familiar voice. Gabriel was there too. I was smiling as I disconnected the call and slipped the phone back to its hidey spot.

After locking up Nathan's house, I skipped across the road, feeling elated. It has been awhile at that point since I had spent time at Kota's house. He always seemed to be too busy for us to go over, and what time he did have off, Erica was usually home and we did not want to bother her from her well-deserved time off from work.

I knocked at the front door and waited impatiently, nearly hopping from foot to foot.

The door opened to reveal Doctor Green.

"Pookie!" he cried as he held his arms open to me.

"Dr. Sean?" I asked in confusion as I stepped into his embrace. I wasn't expecting him.

"Oy! Pick a different pet name for her! Pookie is too weird," Gabriel shouted from further within the house.

Dr. Green squeezed me tight and twisted me back and forth before turning his head to call back over his shoulder. "You _do_ realize who you're talking to, right? Weird is the leading keyword on my résumé."

Dr. Green released me and closed the door once I was fully inside, then planted a kiss on my temple. "Get to the living room. As much as I want to stand around and chat about the birds and bees with you, we do have some serious stuff to discuss first."

"Who said anything about birds and bees?" I asked, smirking.

"I did! Weren't you listening?" He wrapped his arm around my waist and escorted me in.

The moment I could see Kota, he jumped up from the couch and came toward me. Dr. Green withdrew his hand as Kota wrapped his arms around my shoulders in a hug. Mine automatically went around to his back and squeezed. "It feels like ages since I've seen you," he breathed into my hair.

I sympathized. "You're so busy."

Kota exhaled in a grunt, and I felt it across my scalp.

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Gabriel grumbled from beside us. "My turn, Kota. Gimme gimme."

Kota grunted again before handing me over. The loss of Kota's body head was quickly replaced by Gabriel's as he enveloped me into his own arms, burying his nose into my neck. He inhaled deeply and moaned. "Don't ever change that fragrance, Trouble. It's perfect for you." Of course it was. Gabriel was the one who made it for me.

I smiled and ran my hand over his hair on the top of his head. "Hi, Meanie." He shifted until he was holding me at arm's length, looking right into my eyes with his own eyes glittering. He had something exciting he wanted to say, but I don't think he was allowed to say it yet.

"Miss Sorenson."

I stiffened. I _really_ was not expecting that one to be here too. I quickly reviewed my memory as to what I was wearing at the moment, inwardly groaning upon remembering it was a sporty type cotton skirt with stripes down the side and a comfortable t-shirt. I swallowed before turning to face him and replying.

"Mr. Blackbourne."

He stood in the living room dressed in his usual grey suit and red tie, feet planted firmly in front of the entertainment center. Not one thread or hair dared stray away from their perfect place upon him. He motioned to the couch. "Will you join us?"

I nodded meekly and attempted to make my way over with posture fitting of Mr. Blackbourne's approval. The moment I sat in the middle of the couch, Dr. Green slung his arm behind my shoulders and pulled me to lean into him. Gabriel plopped on the couch on my other side. Kota took the arm chair.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked. "Did I do something wrong?" My mind raced over every action and every decision I made over the past week, trying to figure out what errors I made. Why else would Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne both be here and requesting to talk to me? Was I going to get grounded again?

Dr. Green's chest I was leaning on rumbled with a chuckle. "No no, Pookie. Not in the least."

"Quite the opposite, actually." Mr. Blackbourne touched the bridge of his glasses to reposition them higher on his nose. "Firstly, have you eaten dinner, Miss Sorenson?"

I nodded. Nathan and I had a quick bite at the diner before he got ready for his Academy work this evening. I was touched at the concern. Family first.

Mr. Blackbourne nodded his approval. "We need to ask a favor of you." A favor? Me? What could I possibly offer the guys?

Kota's jaw was clenched. He did not like what was happening. Gabriel took my hand and weaved his fingers through mine. I could feel his excitement like electricity, nearly shocking off himself and into me. What polar opposite reactions from those two.

"How can I help?" I asked.

"Let's brief you on the situation before you make any decisions." Mr. Blackbourne nodded at Kota to signal him to take over.

I noticed Kota was glaring daggers at Mr. Blackbourne, which Mr. Blackbourne actively ignored. Kota's features softened when he turned to me and started speaking. "There will be several fiction novels released over the course of the next two years, and the author wanted original covers for each of them. The guys and I were hired as models to pose for these covers."

Models? The guys? My guys? They picked the right guys. Every single one of them was stunningly handsome in their own unique way, and I was not surprised people were asking to put cameras to them. It was kind of hot. These books would fly off the shelf if they were featured on the cover, and I was sure to buy copies of them all even for myself just for the pictures.

I cleared my throat. "That sounds like fun."

"It's hard fucking work, that's what it is," Gabriel interjected, squeezing my fingers in his own.

Mr. Blackbourne motioned for Kota to continue, but Kota pursed his lips, refusing. Mr. Blackbourne sighed and picked up where he left off. "The photography session is scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday, but the female model contracted to work with them had to cancel this afternoon."

Wait. Female model?

"Ugh," Gabriel inserted. "It was fucking gross too. I was at the studio this afternoon prepping costumes with the photographer when she came in. She got stung by a bee, and guess who's allergic?" He waved a hand in the air to illustrate his exasperation. "She is. She was all swollen and red and covered in hives..."

"Gabe!" Dr. Green chastised. "We don't need to know those details."

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Ms. Christine was in a near panic and asked me if any of us guys had a cute girlfriend who could fill in at the last minute..." Gabriel blushed and looked at me. "I didn't commit for you, but I did mention I had the god damned cutest girlfriend of all who could possibly do it." I blushed too.

"Sang," Kota called, drawing my attention. "You can say no. I don't think you should do it anyway. You don't need your face recognizable on cheesy romance novels."

"Hold on, _romance_ novels?" They were going to pose in front of a camera with some strange girl in provocative positions? For two days? And have these photos published and distributed to the general public? An uncomfortable and ugly feeling swept through me. I did not like the situation they signed up to do. Is this what the Academy hired them to do all the time when they weren't breaking into houses and setting up cameras?

Dr. Green smirked. "Yeah. I read through the manuscripts. They don't have much literary worth, but I could see how it could get the intended lady audience to squirm. I recommended the guys _not_ to read them. They wouldn't appreciate it."

With a review like that, I didn't think I would either.

I was going to accept. I was going to be the replacement model. I was going to have my pictures taken professionally with the guys. I was about to voice as such when Mr. Blackbourne started speaking first to Kota. "Arrangements have already been made for the photographs to be edited so those with reputations that need to be protected will not be recognizable in the published works." I assumed that was mainly intended for Victor, and I could imagine the scandal it would cause in the society gossip section of the newspaper if he was seen on such a book cover. Yet, the arrangement also seemed to be implied it would be extended to me. I did not see why. Were they afraid it would lead to more bullying at school?

Kota was shaking his head no adamantly. "I don't approve. She shouldn't have to do this."

Mr. Blackbourne snapped. "Unfortunately for you, Mr. Lee, it is not your decision. It is hers." He pointed a finger at me to punctuate.

Kota sat back in a huff, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes. He had no more room to argue.

"I'll do it," I said quietly.

"Sang," Kota sounded like he was pleading.

"You're doing it, so I don't see what the problem is," I retorted. "And if you're concerned about me being recognized and bullied for it later, then editing takes care of that. I'm more worried about Victor than myself. You guys need this job to be successful, right? And it won't be unless you find a replacement female. Pardon me for being possessive, but I'd rather it be me than some stranger."

The corner of Mr. Blackbourne's mouth lifted that one millimeter. Gabriel beamed. Kota buried his face into his hands, and Dr. Green jostled my shoulders a couple times playfully.

"Hot damn!" Gabriel exclaimed. "Trouble is my girlfriend for the weekend!" He pulled be away from Dr. Green and positioned me into his own lap for snuggles. "All mine!" He licked a line up my cheek. I squealed.

Dr. Green spoke. "You realize you're going to be a busy little bird, don't you? You'll be nearly as busy as Gabe."

"Don't remind me," Gabriel quipped. "I'll be wearing four different hats and constantly moving. The easiest thing I'll have to do is my turn in front of the camera." He sighed dramatically. "I get Trouble as my girlfriend for the weekend, and I'll be too busy to enjoy it."

"Why am I going to be busy?" I asked for clarification.

Dr. Green chuckled. He was finding this amusing. "There are four different sets over the next two days, and you're a part of every single one of them. All four are as different from each other as night is from day."

"How so?"

"If I remember correctly, you'll be doing covers for a cowboy romance, a historical romance, tropical beach, and a paranormal involving a fallen angel and a vampire."

I gulped. This was going to be interesting.

Kota sighed in reluctance. "I'll update everyone else."

Mr. Blackbourne was on his phone. "Ms. Christine? We have a replacement female lined up. She will arrive tomorrow with the others."

Gabriel smacked my thigh for me to get up. "Come on, Trouble. We need to sort through your makeup stash tonight." Gabriel claimed my hand and dragged me out of Kota's house.

What did I just get myself into this time?


	3. Cowboys

I was woken too early in the morning and rushed out the door. When my consciousness finally caught up to me, I found myself in the front seat of Silas's car, him driving and Nathan in the back. One of my usual iced coffees was already in my hand.

"You awake yet, _Aggele Mou_?" Silas asked me.

I nodded slowly as I tried to get my fingers to work well enough to twist the cap off my drink. "Where are we going again?"

Nathan leaned forward and took the coffee away from me to pop it open and take a swig. "You're going to be a cowgirl today, Peanut." He was kind enough to return the coffee to me.

Oh. That's right. Today and tomorrow, I will be a photography model alongside my favorite guys. They were gorgeous, and I was going to be the Plain Jane beside them. I had no idea on what to say, or do, or even how to hold myself. What if I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of it all? Would I wind up blinking through every shot and ruining the whole day? "I honestly have no idea what to do."

Silas rumbled with a laugh and put his hand in my thigh. "Don't worry your pretty head. We will all help you. Every one of us have done this before."

I blinked. They have? What about Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne? I was fearing I had to scour the romance section of the bookstore and inspect every single book cover to see if I recognized any faces. If I did, I was buying the book no matter the content of the words inside.

Silas seemed to sense where my thoughts had gone and laughed some more. "Not all modeling gigs are for books or magazines. I have been photographed before for some marketing images to put on a website. I wore a hard hat and safety glasses."

I couldn't stop the giggle. I could picture that perfectly.

"I was on an ad to promote some new athletics center," Nathan added. "I was making a slam dunk." He extended his arm up and circled it at the wrist to demonstrate. The ceiling of Silas's car made it awkward. Nathan and I smiled at each other.

We did not drive long before parking in a driveway of a house in the middle of a suburb. The house was a standard ranch with a two story double garage at the end of the driveway. Victor's BMW was already here with both Victor and Gabriel leaning against it, waiting.

Victor came over to open my door and took my hand to help me out. "Good morning, Princess." He hugged me tight and swayed back and forth, like we were dancing to some unheard tune.

"Hey!" Gabriel nearly shouted. "She's _my_ girlfriend today. Paws off." He whapped lightly at Victor's shoulder.

Victor snuck a kiss to my cheek before surrendering me to Gabriel's arms. "Meanie," I chastised. "Be nice."

Gabriel squeezed and spun me in a circle. "I'm too busy to be nice. I'm too busy to spend time with you. I have to be mean anyways, or you can't call me Meanie."

He took me by the hand and led me to the side door of the two story garage. The others followed close behind.

Inside did not look like a garage. Everything was cast in dark shadows. Silver umbrellas on tall stands semi-circled around a white wall on one end of the large space. The wall curved seamlessly to continue as the floor for a bit. I imagined that's where the photographs were to be taken. Inside was also a woman only slightly taller than me with wispy and mousey brown hair. Her most noticeable feature was her rear; it bubbled behind her like God wanted her to have an extra shelf.

The moment she turned around and saw us entering, she looked up from a half-sized black and white composition book in her hands, then pointed to the stairs leading to the second story. "Silas. Nathan." She double checked her book. "And Sang. Get your robes on, then meet back down here. Then I can make my proper hello to you." She smiled, giving her orders authority, but not as harshly as it usually comes from Kota or Mr. Blackbourne. Her tone suggested she knew what had to be done, and for everyone's sakes, do it before we all get behind schedule.

Gabriel did not let his hand leave mine as we climbed the stairs and into the room above. This one was better lit and contained racks and racks of clothing. A dressing table stood against a wall with lightbulbs rimming the mirror. Gabriel practically shoved me behind a folding privacy screen as Silas and Nathan thundered in.

"Okay, Trouble. Strip to the nude, then put this on." He draped a white bundle of satin over the top of the screen. "Don't come out until we tell you it's okay, unless you want to see some naked manly butts."

Gabriel disappeared and started hollering at Nathan. "Tell me you brought a fucking razor!"

"Chill out, dude. Of course I did," Nathan replied, much calmer than his friend. "I didn't want to shave at home because I'd already have a shadow by the time we got started here."

I was frozen on the spot, hiding behind the screen. They didn't tell me this was going to be a _naked_ photo shoot. I didn't think I could survive that. Naked? Nude? In the buff? In front of the boys and a stranger? To be photographed for my body to be ogled at by millions of other strangers I would probably never meet? I could feel the blush overtake my whole body, all the way from my scalp to my toes. Not only was I going to be forever photographed as naked, but my naked body was going to be red as a strawberry.

"Nathan?" I barely managed to squeak.

I heard footsteps getting closer to me.

"Oy! Don't you motherfucking dare go behind that screen!" Gabriel was nearly screeching.

"I wasn't!" Nathan called from the other side of the screen. "You okay, Peanut?" he asked in a soothing tone to me.

I shook my head no, which was silly, because he couldn't see it. My tongue was glued to the top of my mouth, so I could not get myself to speak properly.

He seemed to understand the silence. "Hey, I know this is different for you, and it's awkward as hell. To be honest, I'm feeling weird myself." He was? Knowing I wasn't alone in my apprehension provided some comfort. I wasn't alone in this. "Trust us, Sang. We know what we're doing, and we would never let anything happen to hurt you or put you at risk. We aren't taking naked photos, so stop worrying your pretty head over that, okay?" We weren't? But then why... "Look, there's a reason why we're getting into the robes. I just can't explain it right." I could hear the beginning tones of frustration in his voice. He wanted to ease my fears, and I desperately wanted to let him.

A canvas bag flew over the screen and landed on my head. It was pink. "Here," Nathan said. "Put your clothes in this so they don't get lost." He paused a moment and said really quietly, "You okay?"

I felt better. His pep talk was doing well for me. My boys were here, and I could trust them with my life. They were standing beside me through it all. I nodded to answer him, then realized he couldn't see it. So I pried my lips apart and whispered back. "Yes. Thank you, Honey."

I quickly peeled my clothes off my body and quickly folded them up to put in the bag. I made sure to put my panties and bra on the bottom so my shorts and shirt could hide them from view. My sandals went on top to anchor everything down.

I was slipping my arms through the robe when Gabriel's cursing made me startle. "Jesus Christ, Silas. You're too fucking big. None of these robes will fit you, you bastard!"

I could hear Silas chuckle. "I can't help that."

"It's still your god damned fault." Gabriel sounded like he was talking around something in his mouth. "Hold your arms out. We're making a fucking toga out of this sheet."

Both Silas and Nathan roared in laughter. I was giggling too as I tied the sash tightly around my waist to secure my robe around myself. I didn't want it to accidentally fly open and expose myself.

"Alright, Trouble! Come on out!" Gabriel called, his mouth now sounded free from obstruction.

I tip toed my way around the privacy screen with the pink bag clutched in my hands. Nathan was in a similar white satin robe to mine. He had his phone out and was taking pictures of Silas wrapped in a white sheet held together with a couple clothes pins. Silas was going through poses like an Olympian or Greek God. His eyebrows waggled at me when he caught me staring. I wondered if I could those pictures Nathan was taking forwarded to me.

I noticed two bags similar to the one I was holding up against the wall. One was dark blue, and the other was red. I placed the pink one next to them.

Gabriel shoved Nathan toward the stairs. "Get your asses down there! We haven't even started yet!"

Silas took my hand. He bent his head toward me to talk softly as we descended the stairs. "We're naked under these robes because we don't want lines from our clothing imprinted on our skin when we start taking the photos."

Oh. I never would have thought of that. I smiled at him to express my thanks for clearing up some of my confusion.

Silas released my hand before we got all the way down. I assumed it was so the photographer wouldn't see it. I was here as Gabriel's girlfriend, after all. I still missed the contact from his rough hands the moment it left mine.

The lady raised an eyebrow as she saw Silas draped in the sheet. "Issues with the robe?" she asked.

Silas blushed and sheepishly smiled at her. "A little."

Victor, who was left downstairs the whole time, snickered.

"Alrighty!" The photographer clapped to focus the attention to herself. She made eye contact with me. "I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. I wanted y'all in the robes as soon as humanly possible. I'm Christine." She held her hand out, and I took it limply. She firmly pumped our hands up and down with enough confidence for the both of us. "I'll be your photographer for today, Sang."

I still couldn't get my tongue to work properly, so I nodded my head to indicate the proper _hello_ and _nice to meet you_.

"And I must say you turned out to be even better than the other girl I had lined up for this. The order from the client is for a blonde, and I was going to have the other girl wear a wig. Wigs are a pain in the butt."

"Tell me about it," Gabriel muttered from behind my shoulder.

Ms. Christine stepped back to address us all. "I'm going to give everyone the standard lecture before we start so this whole process can be streamlined and there are no misunderstandings." It sounded like she had this rehearsed and made this speech a lot. "The nature of this shoot is meant to be _risqué_, but we are all professionals here. I will act like it. I imagine y'all will too. I will not do anything to compromise anyone's safety or integrity. I am going to make some odd demands from everyone this weekend, but I'm sure you're all well use to that, being part of a modeling agency."

I wasn't a professional. I was new to this whole thing, but I was determined to step up and do what I needed to do. I could only hope she did not notice my insides were quaking in nerves and fear I would screw everything up. Her disclaimer about professionalism eased some of my worries brewing in the back of my thoughts. I had to wonder about the claim about us being from a modeling agency. Was that their cover story? Academy business was odd.

"This whole process will be uncomfortable," Ms. Christine continued, "but if anyone feels like you are going to be violated in any fashion, speak up before it happens so no one gets sued. There will be no nudie shots. However, it will get close at times, so be prepared for any freak nip slips or accidental moons." The blush came over me again, making my ears burn red. Looking over my shoulder to the guys, I could see their cheeks tinged red too as they actively tried to avoid eye contact with me.

Nathan had to clear his throat. "I've got willy socks upstairs if you guys want to use them."

_Willy socks_? I looked to Victor with my silent question. He shook his head with more silent communication as his own blush deepened. _I'm not explaining her_e. _Not now._

Ms. Christine transitioned to the plan of action. "This morning will be devoted to what I'm calling the Cowboys set. After lunch, we'll do the Historical with Victor. Whoever isn't active at the time will be assisting me. Mr. Blackbourne assured me y'all could step up to that role, so I didn't need to hire my usual assistant." I wondered what assistance a photographer could need. I guess I would learn before the day was through. "We will start each set with the least amount of clothing and gradually put more on as we progress. I also want to start with solo shots, then move onto duos. We'll wrap up the set with the three of you together. The order wasn't specific as to what they wanted, so I'm providing a variety. The client can argue with the graphic designer whether they pick just one shot or composite a few together."

I felt lost. The information was still trying to soak in when Ms. Christine clapped again. "Get back upstairs with Gabriel so he can work his magic. Silas is up first. It's go time, people!"


	4. Cowboys (cont)

Back upstairs, Gabriel had Silas perched in front of the dressing table, fingering products through the Greek's black hair, then applying makeup to even out his complexion. Nathan was taking hangars of clothes from one of the many racks in the room and taking them down to the studio. I admired his stamina for the repeated trips up and down the stairs without tiring. I wound up helping Gabriel fetch things he needed, like finding particular shades of foundation. I was glad I could be of some help, even if it was just a little bit.

I managed to get a few words in with Nathan as he stood in the bathroom in the corner of the room and shaved his face clean. "What is Victor doing?" I asked.

His blue eyes met mine in the mirror. "Vic is helping set the equipment up. Lights, wires, the viewing screen, and all that technical stuff."

"Oh," I replied.

Nathan smiled encouragingly at me. "You want to go watch Silas when he has his turn? That way you can get an idea of what will happen for you."

"I'm allowed?" I asked.

Nathan chuckled. "Of course. Besides, you're going to need a break away from Gabe whenever you can. You will already be spending a lot of time working with him, and he is under a lot of stress right now. He has a huge job with all this, and he gets pretty snappy."

As if on cue, a string of colorful curses rang out, apparently about a flat iron.

Both Nathan and I winced.

I watched Nathan finish shaving, withholding any more conversation because it was hard for him to talk back to me when his tongue was pushing out his cheek or lip for the closest shave possible.

"Trouble! Come oil Silas up! Nathan! Your god damned turn! Get your ass over here!"

Oil? Were we frying Silas up for lunch?

Nathan nodded at me, encouraging me to go ahead and that it was okay. "Hold your horses! I'm doing aftershave now!" he shouted back to Gabriel.

I found Silas standing now with a bottle of baby oil in his hands. He was rubbing it onto his arm but it was awkward with trying to keep his mock toga from falling off. "_Aggele Mou, _help me out here." His eyes begged at me.

I shot him a smile of pity and took the bottle from him. He quickly adjusted his toga so it sat a little more securely on his shoulder, then held out his arms to me. I raised an eyebrow, showing my confusion and silently asked why we were doing this.

Silas smiled encouragingly at me. "The oil makes me look shiny, and we will be using it a lot this weekend on all of us. It helps add highlights with the lighting, or something like that. Rub it all over me." I caught the mischievous glint appear in his eyes. "Don't be shy."

Warily, I poured some of the baby oil into the palm of my hand and spread it around. I reached and took Silas's forearm, pressing my hand against his skin. It was radiating heat. He still had his smile, but his eyes darkened considerably as I lightly rubbed the oil into his pores, working my way up his arms and into his bare shoulder.

"That's it, _Aggele_," he praised. "Just like that."

I was on tip toe to finish covering his shoulder, and I couldn't help but stare at the muscles rippling under the skin I just shined as he shifted. Alarm seized through me when I realized he was removing the shoulder part of the toga, lowering it over his other arm and baring the full naked glory of his back to me. I could only start breathing again when I realized he was holding the sheet around his waist to keep his modesty.

I was able to move again when he looked over his shoulder at me. "Keep going," he instructed.

Tenderly, my hands rubbed more of the oil into his back. I made sure to get every square inch slathered, and my mouth was running dry at the feel of solid muscles underneath my fingers. Silas was glorious. This had to be the best job on the face of the earth, and a part of me wondered what qualifications I needed to become a professional model oiler and how that would look on a résumé.

I circled around to face him when his back was thoroughly slicked. I looked up at him hesitantly. I didn't know what to do next. Silas held out his hand, so I put the bottle in it. "Thank you, _Aggele_. I can get the front, unless you'd rather do it for me." His eyes were still darkened in the same way as when I think he's about to kiss me. He was going to let me touch his chest? And stomach? He was giving me permission to caress his wall of muscles?

I was frozen with nerves. I didn't know what to do, or what to say. My mind went blank, yet fully and suddenly aware that Silas was in nothing but a bed sheet and I in a flimsy robe. I wanted to touch him. I wanted to become intimate with every plane, valley, dip, and ripple of his body, but my hands refused to work. I couldn't budge.

I squeaked in surprise when Victor was suddenly at my side and spoke, snapping me out of my cyclone of panic. "Oh good, Si. You already have the oil. I hope you're ready, because we're ready downstairs." Victor looked at me and scrunched his eyebrows. He must have seen me fail at trying to hide my panting breaths. "Are you okay, Princess?"

I bit my lip and nodded. I did not trust myself to speak, afraid it would come out in a croak.

"Yeah, I'm good." Silas was rubbing oil all over his chest, with one hand and holding up his sheet and the bottle with the other. His motions were fast and jerky, and his voice was throaty and gruff.

"Jesus, Gabe!" Nathan shouted from the dressing table. "You're going to poke my eye out!"

Gabriel stood in front of Nathan with one hand on his hip and the other pointing a pencil at Nathan's face. "Well, if you could keep the fuck still, I wouldn't stab your fucking eye. Now don't fucking move so I can get my fucking job done!" By the end of the line, Gabriel was yelling.

I could hear Nathan mutter under his breath as Victor took my shoulders and guided me to the stairs, "I hate eyeliner." My heart felt for him. I hated eyelash curlers. I flashed Nathan a sympathetic smile before Victor urged me down the stairs.

Immediately, Ms. Christine started ordering Silas around, starting with putting on his cowboy boots. The boots were huge. I could probably fit both of my feet into only one boot. Ms. Christine had Silas stand on the white section under the harsh glow of the lights. He practically radiated with the oil on his skin. Ms. Christine took a few moments to study him, making him turn around in circles, look up, look down, look to the far corner of the studio, and other various directions. She leaned up to him, circled, and backed away several times. She then grabbed one of the poles an umbrella was attached to and repositioned it, telling Victor to grab another and do the same. Neither of the guys questioned her or hesitated.

Then Ms. Christine surprised me and got onto the floor, laying on her stomach with her camera in her hands. The camera had a thick cable running out of it. She crawled in close to Silas's feet and started snapping pictures in rapid succession of the cowboy boots. An order to stand facing certain directions, or to put his toes a particular way, or to lean back on his heels happened after a handful of clicks of the camera, and Silas obeyed. After several dozen pictures were done, she got up and went to what looked like a computer screen set up further into the shadowed part of the studio and clicked through the photos she just took. I concluded the cable from the camera was somehow connected to that screen.

She did not spend much time at the screen before she got Victor to bring over a wooden barstool and got Silas to sit on it. She took more pictures of his boots, and then some more with Victor holding up a light box to Silas's feet from multiple directions.

Thirty minutes were spent on pictures of Silas's boots alone. Then she made him go behind another privacy screen I did not notice before and put on some jeans.

More pictures were made of Silas's boots, the only variation was with the addition of the jeans. Eventually, Ms. Christine moved to whole body shots. She had to back way up and had Victor help her reposition the lights several times. Silas was forced to stand, kneel, sit, lay, and lean in more ways that I could count, some with various props like stools, boxes, and poles. Eventually, he put on a cowboy hat, and the camera _click click clicked_ away. Silas looked exquisite. I was sad to watch him put on a flannel shirt.

At some point, Nathan came down in his robe, and Ms. Christine told him to go ahead and put on his boots as she still snapped pictures of Silas. Gabriel showed up and touched up Silas's makeup every now and then. Nathan told me the lights were really hot, so they had to freshen up the makeup every so often. They had to refresh the oil slathered all over the skin too at times.

"Alright," Ms. Christine said. "Silas, take a break. Nathan! You're up!" She nodded at Gabriel, and Gabriel nodded back in acknowledgement before he double checked Nathan's hair and makeup and smacked his ass. Nathan yelped and glared evil daggers at Gabriel.

"Go get 'em, Tiger," Gabriel said as Nathan took to the white wall and heat of the lights. I was able to see Ms. Christine get back to her stomach to focus her camera on Nathan's boots before Gabriel took my hand and led me back up the stairs. "You're turn, Trouble." I was sad I was going to miss Nathan's turn at being photographed, but another part of me was elated I was going to be primped and made beautiful with Gabriel. He worked magic, and it was my turn to transform.

Volume was added to my hair and simple makeup applied. Gabriel was an expert, and I barely recognized the girl looking back at me in the mirror. He explained to me he didn't bother to wash my hair this time around because hair was actually easier to style and lasted longer when it was a little dirty with my natural oils. Gabriel got me to go ahead and put on some cowgirl boots while we went back down to wait for my turn.

I watched Nathan go through his poses, nearly bending over backward once. I gravitated to the viewing screen to see some of the pictures, and the one I liked the most was when his flannel shirt was tucked into his form fitting jeans, but left unbuttoned to displace his exquisite physique. His thumbs were in his pockets, chin tilted down, and his deep blue eyes looking up as he smiled like the boy next door. My boy next door.

Ms. Christine excused Nathan to take a break too as she and Victor readjusted lights and props for my turn. Gabriel, Nathan, and Silas all circled around me as we waited.

"Can I oil Sang up?" Nathan asked.

Every thought of mine came to a screeching halt. I didn't think the whole baby oil concept was applied to me too.

"What the fuck?!" Gabriel practically hissed while punching Nathan on the arm. "No!"

Silas beamed. "That's right. I get to oil Sang up instead."

Gabriel smacked Silas with the back of his hand onto his bare pectoral with a resounding smack. Silas rubbed his chest, of which was partially exposed because he was wearing his sheet as a toga once more. It looked odd because he was still wearing the boots with it. "I said no!" Gabriel barked.

"Why?" Silas nearly whined. "She oiled me up. I should return the favor."

"What?!" Nathan raised his voice. "Then I get Sang to oil me up next!"

Gabriel rolled his eyes and groaned, waving his hands into the air.

I was so embarrassed, I wanted to melt into a puddle of goo and seep into the floor. Nearly in a panic, I grabbed the bottle myself and started liberally squirting it into my hands. I rubbed it into my skin vigorously before anyone could say anything or take the bottle away from me. I did not like the fighting or Gabriel feeling so stressed to protect my girlhood on top of everything else he had to do, so I solved the issue myself.

Gabriel softened and turned to me when he noticed my hurried and frantic pace. "Don't touch your face, Trouble," he said to me gently. "The oil left on your hands will wash off your makeup."

"Alright, Sang. We're ready for you," Ms. Christine called to me.

Still in my robe, I went to the white wall. The lights were indeed hot, and I winced as they flooded my retinas. I lost sight of the boys as they stood in the rest of the darkened studio. Ms. Christine had me do the same as the others: turn this way, turn that, look over here, now over there... The camera started clicking at my boots, and eventually I was allowed to put on a pair of daisy duke shorts and a flannel shirt. Gabriel tied the shirt off just under my breasts, and things got awkward when Ms. Christine told him to move the shirt further and further down my shoulders, exposing more and more skin. The shirt nearly fell off a few times, and I flushed pink at each attempt for gravity to expose me. I sat on a stool, leaned against it, bent over it, and hung off it. I don't remember when the cowgirl hat wound up on my head, or when Gabriel braided my hair into pigtails with ribbons over my shoulders. I did not hear a peep from any of the boys when I was told to turn around and bend over to touch my toes. Even Gabriel's cursing had stopped to let the _click click click _of the camera sound. Honestly, the hardest part was staring into the hot lights, trying to make the facial expressions Ms. Christine demanded of me without blinking every time the lights flashed and the camera clicked. Coy, surprised, mischievous, happy. I didn't think I did that well, but she said my '_come hither_' stare was superb. I guarantee I nailed the _shy_ and _deer in headlights _looks the few times she asked for it.

My turn ended, and I was expecting a flourish or fanfare. At least a five minute break. Instead all I got was Victor shoving a bottle of water at my face and Ms. Christine hollering at Silas to get up here with me. He marched up in only a pair of jeans and his boots and the widest grin I've ever seen.

Victor was more involved with assisting directly with us when I was posing with Silas, then Nathan. Ms. Christine would tell him to move an arm here, prop a boot there, help me twist further than my spine could humanly allow.

With Silas, the most awkward position I found myself in was kneeling on a box and pressing my cheek against Silas's stomach, under his navel. The button and fly to his jeans were open. He wasn't wearing any underwear. I imagined Ms. Christine was going to have to digitally edit the red out of my face. The best pose I found us in was with his back to the camera. He picked me up with his hands under my butt, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, hooking my boot-clad ankles together. We both hid our faces under his cowboy hat, and we just stared into each other's eyes as the camera clicked away. I bit my lip and grinned, ecstatic that I was having pictures done of one of my legendary Silas hugs.

For Nathan, the hardest part was when I had to stare into the camera with my back pressed against a wall-like prop, lids half closed and lips parted. That part I could do. However, I lost it when Nathan had to pretend to kiss his way up my face and Ms. Christine wanted it to look more passionate. He had to practically eat my jaw, and all I could think about was his love for zombies. He would utter a quiet, "Gnar," and I would break into a giggle fit. It took Victor pulling out his phone and pulling up music of my favorite composer for me to finally calm down enough to get enough shots in.

The pose I appreciated the most with Nathan was where he was standing with his thumbs in his pockets again, only this time, I was wrapped around him with a hug from his back. One arm snaked around his waist, and the other curled over his pectoral and grasped at his collar bone. I was looking wistfully over his shoulder.

I didn't remember much of when the three of us were up at the same time. All I knew was that I was tired and hungry. All I remembered thinking as my limbs were pulled and re-positioned for the hundredth time was that there was no possibility for a girl to be sandwiched between two guys in more than two dozen ways, but we managed the impossible. I felt like one of Nathan's zombies by the time Kota came into the garage and stood to the edge of the white floor, out of the camera's view. I started drooling when I noticed he had boxes of sandwiches in his hands, then I noticed his dropped-jaw stare. He was pushing his glasses further up his nose when I realized how he saw Silas, Nathan, and me. I was sitting precariously on a sheet-draped stool that was about to tip over. Nathan was straddling and looked to be humping one of my legs while the other was bent up his side. My torso was craned around toward Silas, who was kissing his way up my arm with those dark eyes staring into my own.

The camera stopped clicking when my sheepish smile curled my lips and my skin burned in yet another blush.

Kota cleared his throat and pulled at the neck of his polo shirt. When he spoke, his voice was cracked and squeaky. "Lunch is here."


	5. Victorian Victor

Both Ms. Christine and Gabriel hollered at Victor and me to go get into robes again before we were allowed to eat. Once our skin has been freed from confining clothing, we were allowed to join Nathan, Silas, Gabriel and Kota for the submarine sandwiches Kota kindly delivered. We all gathered in the dressing room and set up camp on a couch hidden behind a couple racks of pirate and goth-themed costumes. I was informed Ms. Christine allowed for an hour for lunch break, and boy, could we use it. Modeling was hard work.

"Can I get back into the toga?" Silas asked innocently. He was enjoying that way too much, but it was adorable. I did not have the heart to deny him.

Kota raised an eyebrow. "Toga?"

"Fuck no," Gabriel answered around a mouthful of sandwich. After swallowing, he continued. "There is no reason for you to go prancing around in a sheet and chance it _accidentally_ falling off to show Sang your blubbery ass."

During this, Nathan had pulled out his phone and was showing Kota the pictures he took of their friend, and briefly explained why it happened.

Silas stood up and turned to try and look at his jean-clad rear. "It's not really blubbery, is it?"

I couldn't help myself. I looked. It wasn't blubbery at all. In matter of fact, it was rather trim and fit and…

Silas caught me staring. He grinned. I blushed.

"You have work elsewhere anyways," Kota announced.

Silas groaned and shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth before he went to collect his dark blue canvas bag from the wall. As he went behind the privacy screen, Kota explained he himself was going to stay and help out in Silas's stead, but with the way he was explaining, I heard hidden intentions that he wanted to stay anyways and observe whether he was needed or not. I didn't mind. I liked Kota's company.

Stifling a yawn, I offered the last of my sandwich to Silas as he was leaving. Then I pressed my cheek against Nathan's shoulder and promised myself I would close my eyes only for a couple of seconds.

The next thing I knew was Nathan was gently shaking me awake. "Peanut, as much as I love being your pillow, I really need to go use the little boys room." I jolted upright. Nathan bolted up to standing and ran for the restroom. After looking around, no one else was upstairs. How long was I asleep? Did I mess the schedule up?

Too impatient to wait for Nathan, I tip toed down the stairs, old habits kicking in to try and move as quietly as I could without sacrificing too much speed. I could not hear the clicking of the camera, but I did hear Ms. Christine's voice interchanging with Gabriel's.

"Bring one lock forward and let it dangle over his forehead." That was Ms. Christine.

"Like Superman?" Gabriel asked. I was finally getting close one ought to see he was putting a comb to Victor's head in those bright lights.

"The Christopher Reeve one, yeah."

Kota was standing not too far from the photographer with a metal-caged fan in his grip. He saw me sneaking up and smiled at me. He wasn't mad or annoyed, so my nap must not have thrown things too far out of whack. I had not made this assignment a failure yet.

Gabriel dabbed some of the perspiration beading at Victor's brow and pressed some powder to touch up his face. When Gabriel stepped away, I could finally get a good look at Victor. My jaw dropped.

My Prince stood there against the white backdrop, his bare torso shining gloriously in the blinding lights. His feet were shoulder width apart and clad in black horse riding boots that reached his knees. His long fingers wrapped around a leather riding crop. With a couple of instructions from Ms. Christine to roll back his shoulders, tip his chin, and look up until his eyeballs couldn't go any further, the quiet and kind Victor I knew disappeared and was replaced by someone who radiated dominance with undertones of something dark. He became a person who intimidated me into never wanting to get him mad.

When his gaze managed to find mine, the fire in his eyes erupted and out shone even the bright lights. The hues of intimidation and unwavering confidence were given a wash of red hot passion, changing the whole character from someone I feared to a person I wanted to touch, reaching out to play with the fire until I could discover how long it would be until I got burned.

"Oh, yeah, darlin'," Ms. Christine said with satisfaction. "That's what we're going for. Whatever you just thought, keep thinking it." _Click click click._ "Just don't tell me what it is." _Click click._ "I'm sure it'll get me into trouble with me girlfriend." _Click click click. _She went to go check the pictures on the screen, and Victor smiled at me, his eyes still an inferno.

I was curious as to what thoughts he had to be thinking, but I was too afraid to ask.

Gabriel materialized right by me and wrapped his arms around me in a hug. His nose burrowed into my hair. "I thought I told that fucktard Nathan to let you sleep, Trouble," he said into my ear. His breath was warm, but I could hear his own exhaustion laced in his voice.

"I wasn't meaning to nap, Meanie." I leaned some of my weight into him, and he squeezed tighter. "Besides, you probably need it more than I do anyways."

He took in a sharp breath, then ran his hands over the satin material of the thin robe separating my naked skin from the rest of the world. "You don't need to worry about me," Gabriel told me.

"Tough. I already do. I have this condition, you see. It makes it so I care too much."

Gabriel smiled at me with his crystal blue eyes twinkling. "God dammit, Trouble. Stop talking. I can't work with all this cute crap spilling past those perfect lips." A karate chop lightly landed across the top of my head.

He quickly passed a makeup compact of powder to Kota and told him to hold down the fort down here. Gabriel took my hand and dragged me toward the stairs again, but before I could lose sight of him, Victor's fiery eye winked at me in between clicks.

Back upstairs in the dressing room, Gabriel and I found Nathan, who had just changed back into his original street clothes. Gabriel chastised him for waking me up from the nap, but Nathan just waved it all off before heading down to assist alongside Kota. I figured Nathan was used to a stressed out Gabriel and did not take it personally.

"I don't care what anyone else says. Tonight, you and I are sleeping together," Gabriel declared while wrapping me in his arms again.

I blushed when my wandering mind read too deep into the implications of his words.

"Jesus, I can feel your blush on your skin, Trouble," he said into my ear. "You know what I mean by that. I swear you're a bigger pervert than I am."

My skin heated even more, and Gabe responded with a tighter hug. "I ought to bite you for whatever you're thinking, but it will ruin your complexion for this shoot." He squeezed my arms tight in is hug and stood upright, lifting me until my bare toes were dangling. "Never enough time," he grunted as he awkwardly walked/carried me to the dressing table and gingerly set me down in the chair.

The next large chunk of time was spent putting my hair into dozens of ringlets and even more pins to pile it all onto the top of my head. By the time he was finished, I swore the mass of pins outweighed the amount of hair on my head. After coughing out the cloud of hair spray from my lungs, I looked into the mirror at the finished work and gasped.

"Gabriel…"

"I know, Sang." His shining blue eyes met with mine in the mirror. "You're stunning."

I wrinkled my nose at him. That wasn't how I was feeling. His pure talent to take the boring and mundane and turn it into something that was beautiful was what took my breath away.

"I really don't want to have to put makeup on you, Trouble. You're pretty enough without it. It's those lights, though. They wash away the natural definition of your features." He dug around in the hard shell makeup case he and the guys bought and decorated for me some time ago when we decided to practice different makeup looks and teach me how to put it on. A pencil of eyeliner came out. "I hope you don't mind, but I used some on the other guys."

"Why would I mind? We all share practically everything to begin with. Why should this be any different?" I asked.

Gabriel paused with the tip of the pencil mere inches from my face, thinking. "I forget sometimes you're not a normal girl."

I took that as a compliment, and to thank him for it, I gently held his wrist to keep him from stabbing me in the face by accident as I leaned forward and placed a little kiss on the tip of his nose.

He froze and took his turn to blush. It crept all the way to his ears.

"God dammit, Sang. Don't do this to me when we're trying to work." He recovered quickly and drew lines along my eyes. I was a little apprehensive with the eyelash curler and mascara, but Gabriel was an expert and managed not to poke my eyeballs out or pinch my lids.

"You deserve to be on these covers," he praised when he was finished putting my face on. "It's going to be a fucking shame someone is going to have to alter your pictures before they're published."

I felt beautiful, and I could sympathize with his feelings about ruining the work he just did by having someone else undo it all. It didn't seem fair, but then again, what in my life has ever been fair to begin with?

Gabriel held my hand as we descended the stairs back to the studio floor. He did not let go when we got further in. I relished in the thought that we did not need to hide our displays of affection this weekend. Not here. Not now.

"Just in time!" Nathan called as he moved props off the white floor. "Vic just finished up."

Gabriel's finger instantly shot out and isolated the model wearing a waist coat that accented his trim waist and juxtaposed the billowing sleeves of the poet's shirt underneath it. "You! Robe! Now!"

Victor's eyes toned down to a smolder at the command, but turned back up a few notches when Ms. Christine said the robe wasn't necessary this time. She wasn't planning on shooting him pantless, so he was allowed to go around bare chested and keep the trousers and boots on.

I blatantly stared as he stripped the upper layers of his clothing off. Victor noticed and grinned slyly at me.

I was subjected to the bright lights once more, starting off on a stool again. I was a bit hesitant when Ms. Christine shooed the guys away for a bit and approached me herself. "I forgot until Kota just recently reminded me that you aren't a part of their agency. I'm sorry if I worked you a little hard and assumed you already knew the ins and outs of the job."

My head shook to and fro quickly. I didn't think there was anything she had to apologize about. I was fine, and I believed it myself this time. "Don't worry about me, Ms. Christine. I'm more worried I'm slowing everything down."

She smiled warmly at me. "Honestly? This is the best group I have ever gotten in my studio. You included. I feel weird being paid as much as I am for this gig to have everything run so smoothly. But the real reason I'm bringing all this up to you now is because I'm going to ask you to expose a lot of yourself in front of these guys, and where I would normally assume you'd be okay with it, I want to ask you to make sure."

I gulped. "How so?"

"I want you to have your robe lowered to your waist. You'll be facing the wall, so nothing naughty will be in view, but I know that can still be awkward. I want a shot with bare shoulders and back, draped in a lacy shawl."

I would be facing the wall? They wouldn't see my front side at all? I could do that. I nodded meekly.

"Now, I can kick all the guys outside if that will make you more comfortable so it's just us ladies. Or everyone except your boyfriend. Whichever you prefer."

"No!" I said, probably a little too quickly. I did not want to be alone with someone, even if they are as nice as Ms. Christine, without my boys around. Call me a coward, but I was still fearful of being trapped in places with other girls. The nightmare with Jade at school instilled another weird phobia into me. "Please, they can stay. I have no issues with that. As long as I'm facing the wall the entire time."

She nodded. "Then let's get this show on the road."

Kota was on the edge of the white floor, bristling. Something had upset him, and if I had to guess, it was because he did not approve of the talk Ms. Christine and I had alone together. He was denied the chance to be there and supervise, to protect me from the stranger. He throbbed with silent communication to me, a raised eyebrow and a twitch of a lip. _Are you okay?_

I smiled at him and nodded encouragingly. As much as my heart swelled at his desire to protect me, I knew I knew I was a big girl and could handle a simple conversation and a couple decisions on my own.

He came forward and handed me a white shawl, so lacy and sheer I wondered how it managed to keep anyone warm like its original intended use was for. Kota looked over his shoulder to see Ms. Christine with her back toward us, then quickly leaned into me to rub his nose across my own a few quick times. Without saying anything, he stepped back into the shadows to let me face the bright lights on my own.

Upon instruction, I swiveled around on the stool to face the expanse of plain white wall. Ms. Christine made the boys turn their backs anyways before letting me slip my arms out of the robe and having it fall around my waist. I fought the urge to cross my arms and cover myself, chanting repeatedly that no one could see my exposed chest. I wrapped the shawl around my shoulders and stared straight ahead and the clicks of the camera started. Turn my head to the side further than I was sure human anatomy allowed, and more clicks sounded. Part my lips. Lower the shawl a few inches. Close my lips. Lower the shawl some more.

Time became a blur again. I was allowed to go behind the changing screen to put on a Victorian age dressing gown, and Gabriel had to holler at me to put my robe back up before I got off the stool. _Whoops. _

More pictures. More poses. More clothes. The dressing robe got replaced by a royal blue gown, and slowly all the undergarments were added under it until I found myself cinched up tight in a corset, bloomers, garters, and something called a 'bustle'. Gabriel explained it was an undergarment that fluffed up the ass of a dress back in the day. The corset would not let me breathe no matter how hard I tried. My, how fashion has evolved over the years.

In all the various stages of dress, I posed on more boxes, leaned up against more prop walls, and discovered more ways to sit on a powder blue upholstered settee than I could have ever imagined, most of which were not comfortable, but based on the flurry of camera clicks, looked really attractive.

The most time consuming process was the Gabriel was constantly in my hair, rather literally. We kept alternating between having the fully pinned up hair style and taking out most of the pins to have the curls in various degrees of looseness hanging around my face and shoulders. When this happened, usually either Kota or Nathan had to stand nearby with a fan pointed at my face, drying my eyes out. Making the appropriate facial expressions with the fan was particularly difficult. Each time the hair came down, it soon got all pinned back up again.

By the time we were done, I had a new found appreciation for being born into the current century.

The blue gown was being clutched desperately to my chest as I descended the stairs back to the white backdrop. There was not a stitch on me underneath the dress, and if I lost concentration, I was sure the gown would fall and puddle at my feet to reveal that fact to everyone in the studio. The dress, as pretty as it was, was not designed to be worn without the layers upon layers of undergarments supporting it. I was making an active effort not to think too far ahead as to how I was to take pictures with only the gown on and manage the awkward poses without revealing way too much of myself to Victor alongside me.

Victor was already there, waiting for me, the fire in his eyes a smolder. As Gabriel was fussing about his hair and trying to get the curl about his forehead to behave properly, Victor managed to snake an arm about my waist and sneak a peck to my forehead while Ms. Christine had her back turned and her nose buried in her little notebook she kept referencing. Victor was a few inches taller with the boots on, and I was fully aware just how fitted the trousers were around his legs and the nakedness of the upper half of his body. It was nearly enough to get me to forget my own barely clad state of clothing, but my fist diligently stayed clutched at the satin under my throat.

"Doc gave me a synopsis of the novel we're posing for," Victor told me as he stepped back half a pace to keep the pretense of propriety while the other guys and Ms. Christine continued to bustle about. "I am standing in for an Earl of a vast estate in France who meets this tiny woman and makes it his mission to make her his Princess." His eyes fired up a few degrees.

"But won't she become a Duchess instead?" I asked, flushing at the sentiment, but suddenly finding the courage to display my lack of ignorance.

Victor smiled down at me, amused. "When they are together, they become their entire world, and he feels like a king."

My lips curled up coyly. "Then she would be a queen, wouldn't she?"

Victor did not have a chance to retort because Nathan had come up to us and made me step up on a shorter box. I was ordered to press my chest against Victor's bare one, and I had to reluctantly remove my grip on the dress, trusting our contact would keep it in place. Unfortunately, Gabriel's attempts to rearrange the skirts around my legs kept shifting the bodice, swiping is harshly a few times to rid of unwanted folds and wrinkles, and as I felt the neckline slip lower and lower, I had to wrap my arms around Victor's torso and squeeze myself against him in a desperate attempt to keep myself decent enough.

Victor grunted into my ear.

"Perfect!" Ms. Christine shouted as the camera started its flurry of clicks. "Now bury your face into his shoulder, Sang."

No problem. My skin had ignited in a blush, and I had no issues hiding whatsoever.

Time lost its structure once more. The lights, I was sure, blinded my ability to sense time along with my retinas.

Eventually, Gabriel applied some double sided tape to the neckline of the dress when Victor and I were on the powder blue settee Kota and Nathan had positioned on the floor. The dress had managed to slip down so low, I was sure another half inch would have made things illegal to put on film. I only noticed the state the dress was in when Victor's eyes ratcheted up to full inferno. Leaning back on the piece of furniture with Victor holding my leg up to his side as his knees were planted on either side of my other thigh did not help the situation, at least on my end of things. Once the tape was on, things went much smoother, but Victor never lost the blaze in his gaze.

My hair went down, then back up, down again, and various degrees of in between. Victor put on the poofy sleeved poet's shirt, and I was instructed to nearly crawl up into it with him several times before he had to put the waistcoat on over it. The various stages of undergarments managed to find their way under the blue gown until I was cinched up breathless again. The more dressed we both became, the more formal the poses and pictures became less intimate. The riding crop was very active in the pictures toward the beginning and was forgotten by the time we were standing side by side for a portrait, making me feel like we were posing like the farmer and his wife in that Grant Wood painting. The involvement of the bottle of baby oil paralleled the crop, but I remember Kota and Nathan trying to argue who was going to slather me up, trying to push the responsibility of applying it to Victor onto the other. The issue was solved with a slew of curses from Gabriel and a loud announcement that I was _his_ girlfriend and therefore got the honor of the oil. I was surprised the heat of my blush did not fry all of the baby oil off my skin moments after it was applied.

I was proud of myself for not managing to pass out in the heat of the lights with the corset cutting off my air supply by the time Ms. Christine called the day done. The bottle of water Kota put into my hands emptied in seconds the moment Gabriel loosened the ties to the confining under garment, and I gasped for another bottle the moment I finished the first. They all laughed at me, but I didn't mind.

"Next time, you guys get to wear the corset," I said with mock aggression while wiping the dribbles of water from the corner of my mouth with my wrist.

I was changing back into my own clothes behind the privacy screen upstairs and overheard Kota scolding Nathan to not steal the corset. Nathan nearly whined, "I was going to use it for the next time we play Truth or Dare."

Someone spewed water, but I couldn't tell who from behind the screen.

"Jesus, Nate," Gabriel cursed. "We'll just get you your own, you perverted kink. They're not that hard to find."

My giggle snorted.

Feeling odd to be back in my own clothing, Victor was kind and treated us all to a nice, low key dinner on the way back to Sunnyvale Court. I had to be practically catatonic from exhaustion, because the guys had to order for me, and I did not remember what I managed to eat. The one thing I did remember was waking up in the middle of the night with a desperate need to use the restroom, still clad in my street clothes. After taking care of business and silently putting on sleeping shorts and a comfortable camisole, I crawled back into the bed, wedging myself in between Nathan and Gabriel, who was humming with his dreams.


	6. Beach Amigos

My sleep came to a startling end as my face was assaulted by cold and wet. I jolted awake with a sudden gasp and violently sat upright in the bed. My nerves had shot through the roof in a panic, convinced I was under threat of dying right that very instant.

"Morning, Trouble," Gabriel snickered at me from kneeling on the side off the bed. His hands were wielding a plain spray bottle, and it was pointed at me.

"Gabriel!" I squeaked as tremors shook me. Was he trying to give me a heart attack? Because he very nearly succeeded. "Meanie! That was cruel!"

Gabriel's smirk was unrepentant as he placed his hands on my shoulders to maneuver me around for my back to face him. The spray bottle squirted a fine mist of water over my hair, and his deft fingers loosely combed it into my locks. "We should have done this last night, but you were out like a fucking light."

The water was cold against my scalp, shoulders, and the back of my neck. I failed at holding back my shivers. "Done what?" I asked.

"Washed and braided your hair, but we can short cut it now." He dropped the spray bottle over my shoulder so it plopped into my lap, then he separated my hair into plaits and deftly weaved them together, all the way from my hairline at my forehead to the very tips of my strands. He worked quickly, and in only a few minutes, my hair was in a pair of slightly damp french braids and slung over my shoulders. A smack landed on my thigh. "Go get a quick shower, but don't get your hair wet."

Confused as to why we had to braid my hair so early, I did as I was instructed. Instead of a shower, I quickly drew a bath, scrubbing myself down and shaving my legs before the tub managed to fill. I dressed myself comfortably in a cotton skirt and loose t-shirt, already mindful to keep from extra clothing lines to imprint on my skin before the second half of the photo shoot.

Nathan handed me a breakfast sandwich he made and one of the bottled iced coffees as Gabriel and I ran out the door to meet Kota pulling up into the driveway.

"Bye, Honey!" I called over my shoulder, wishing I had a moment of spare time to give him a hug before I left.

"Knock 'em dead, Cowgirl!" Nathan said back to me. My face lifted into a grin as I jogged to the driveway, remembering yesterday with Silas, Nathan, and Victor in front of the camera. Yeah, it was exhausting and awkward, but now that day was behind me, I realized it was more fun than I gave it credit for. I had to remember to ask if I was able to see the pictures at some point and if I could keep a few copies. Waiting for the books to be released seemed to be too long to wait, and I wanted to see how the camera managed to capture the boys. They were stunning in real life; I could only imagine how blindingly gorgeous they would be in a professional photograph.

Gabriel opened the front passenger door for me then crawled into the back seat. As soon as Gabriel closed his door and started on his seatbelt, my own belt clicked into place and Kota started backing his car out to drive back to the studio.

"Are you looking forward to today, Sang?" Kota asked me with his eyes devoted to the road. I noticed he wore a loose t-shirt and comfortable jeans.

I smiled and nodded at him. "I'm excited, and hopefully today I will have a better clue to what I need to do."

Kota chuckled. Gabriel reached forward and landed a karate chop on my head. "Shut up, Trouble. You were perfect. You'll be perfect today too. Tell me she wasn't fucking perfect, Kota."

Kota used a finger to push his glasses further up his nose. "Absolutely beautiful. The pictures are going to come out great."

I blushed, not knowing what to say when their thoughts about me mirrored my own for them.

Gabriel sighed in what sounded like disappointment. "I wish we could have used your pink cowgirl hat yesterday." Some time ago, Luke, Silas, and North had to take a road trip out to Texas for some Academy work, and Gabriel made sure they brought back souvenirs. North managed to bring back cowboy hats for us all in our favorite colors. Mine was made out of stiffened light pink felt, and I loved it. "I mentioned our hats to Ms. Christine, but she insisted we used the more traditional ones she had." Gabriel shrugged. "I guess I can't blame her. It would have been fun, but in the end, it would have been tacky, wouldn't it?"

He had a point. I did not know what the novel was about, but I was confident enough to assume the novelty of colored hats would not fit the image we had to portray. "We can take our own pictures with the hats, can't we?" I suggested.

Even from his profile, I could see Kota's smile as he nodded. "We shall."

"Oy!" Gabriel said while leaning forward and knocking Kota lightly on the shoulder. "What the fuck was up with you yesterday? Did Silas really have work?"

Kota scoffed in mock offense. "Are you questioning my integrity, Gabe? Where is the trust?"

"Look, all I know was that Silas was supposed to be there and help out, but you wound up doing it instead. It looks fucking fishy as all hell," Gabriel accused.

Gabriel was implying that Kota conned Silas into leaving so he could stick around?

"An assignment really did pop up for Silas yesterday," Kota cleared up. "Ask him about it if you don't believe me. It wasn't anything terribly interesting." He chuckled as we heard Gabriel take his phone out instantly and started tapping out a text. "Even if that wasn't the case," Kota continued, "I still would have stayed anyways." He looked at me briefly and winked. "The view was too good to simply walk away and ignore."

I blushed as my hand flitted to my throat, sure that this day was also to be filled with even more blushes. I wished there was a way to tell my skin that it shouldn't even bother relaxing back to its normal fair tone, that it would be less effort to just stay in a constant state of red the entire time I was awake.

We were at the studio garage first, Luke and North pulling in the black Jeep behind Kota's car in the driveway only minutes after us. We waited for them to get out and join us before heading into the garage. I was smothered in hugs and kisses on my brow before we get through the door.

Luke's hair was pulled back in a way I wasn't used to seeing him, making his strong jaw and model-worthy cheekbones more noticeable than usual. He looked amazing. Then again, all my guys did. I was lucky to be the one that got their attention.

The moment she saw us, Ms. Christine shooed us up the stairs for robes. Ascending with Luke ahead of me, I noticed his hair was in a set of french braids very similar to mine. His locks just did not reach the length of my own, so the ends dangled under his ears. Gabriel handed me my pink canvas bag before I shimmied my way to behind the changing screen in the dressing room to strip.

"Jesus Christ, Luke. What the hell is up with your hair?" Gabriel said as I was peeling my clothing off and folding them neatly.

"I did my best," Luke answered. "Can I take them out now?"

"Fuck no. Not yet. Who did them? Max?"

I giggled at the mental image of Kota's golden retriever attempting Luke's hair.

"Get off it, Gabe," Luke sounded defensive. "I had to teach myself in a couple of days with nothing but YouTube to teach me. Braids are hard without experience."

North's low chuckle sounded from the direction of the stairs. "Get this, Gabe. He was watching a channel called _Cute Girls Hairstyles."_

Peals of laughter fell freely from me as I tied the white satin robe securely around me. The others chuckled along, but I couldn't tell if it was at Luke's source of knowledge or at my amusement of it all.

"Sang, I bet I can get your hair up into bunny ears for Easter," Luke said from just the other side of the privacy screen. I did not hear him approach before, so I jumped slightly, startled.

"Nuh uh!" Gabriel exploded. "No! You're not touching her god damned hair! Not after the mess you made yours to be."

Luke laughed.

"Come on, Trouble," Gabriel called to me. They must be in their robes and ready to get started. I gathered my bag and came out from around the screen, glancing at Gabriel and Luke. I blushed upon realizing our identical states of undress. We were all naked underneath the flimsy robes. I tried my best not to stare, focusing on finding the place to put my bag with my belongings. A baby blue bag slumped next to a muted orange against the same spot on the wall from yesterday, and my pink one joined them.

Gabriel wrapped his fingers around mine and escorted me down the stairs to the studio. Kota and North were standing and waiting with Ms. Christine as she pawed through her little notebook. I noticed she kept it with her constantly and referenced it often, so I assumed her memory was squirrely and depended on it to remember important details.

As soon as she noticed us, the notebook closed and was put away in a pocket. "Alright. Down to business." She nodded her approval at seeing the three of us in robes. "I apologize for those who will be hearing this for a second time," she nodded to Gabriel and me, "but I'm sure you understand it needs to be done. Getting sued over disclaimer details isn't on my agenda for the month." I smiled and nodded meekly to her, silently letting her know I did not mind. She continued in a similar way as yesterday, assuring us that a professional environment was to be maintained and to speak up if we felt like her demands were violating our integrity. I noticed Kota had his own blush tinging his cheeks when she got to the part about expecting any accidental nudity.

Ms. Christine clapped to signal the end of her rant. "Alright! Let's get started! Kota and North, I'm glad you two look strong, because you two are about to do some heavy lifting," she said as Gabriel and Luke nudged me back upstairs for the next stage of the day.

Unlike yesterday, my turn was first for the solo shots. As I sat on the chair in front of the mirror, I could hear loud grunts coming from Kota and North echoing up from the stairs. What did they have to lift that was so heavy? Watching the guys lift various props yesterday proved that some were a little heavy, but their combined strengths conquered each one easily and with little effort. Mentally shrugging to not mess up Gabriel hovering over my head, I figured I'd find out soon enough.

Gabriel's fingers took out the french braids in my hair, separating the plaits until my head was covered in dramatic beach waves. I promised myself to watch Luke's YouTube videos concerning cute hairstyles to learn tricks like this for myself later. He completed the hairdo by applying a product he called 'clay' onto my roots, lifting the hair at my scalp to add volume.

"We need to do this one more often, Trouble," Gabriel said, echoing my thoughts. "It's not for all the time, but texture in your hair is nice every now and then. In case I forget, don't let Ms. Christine dunk your head into the water until the very end."

I nodded, not understanding what he was talking about with the dunking bit. I was sure it was yet another thing I would figure out when it happened.

"Can I take mine out now too?" Luke asked. "My scalp isn't use to this."

"No," Gabriel firmly answered. "You'll fuck it up. Just go shave and wait your turn."

"Yes, Mother," Luke sing-songed as he turned for the little bathroom.

Gabriel applied some light makeup, calling it a 'natural' look, but I still had to suffer the dreaded eyelash curler and mascara at the end. Beauty would always be a mystery to me, but I was lucky to have someone so versed in it to make up for my delinquency. After my face was on, Gabriel whipped around in his dressing robe, making the hem lift a bit and revealed some of the back of his upper thighs as he made his way to a rack of clothing in the other side of the dressing room. That was the most of leg I had ever seen on any of the guys, usually covered up in at least shorts whenever I was around. The few times I had seen them in boxers, the room was dark and they made sure to hop under blankets quickly. What I had just saw on Gabriel had my thoughts torn in two different directions. Part of me wanted to see just how high those legs went under that white satin, but my modesty had my skin alight in a blush, scolding my eyes for stealing a peek at something I wasn't privy to.

Scraps of fabric landing in my lap jostled me out of my warring thoughts. I held them up and found them to be a barely-there two piece bathing suit, a bikini set consisting of nothing but strings and strategically placed triangles. It was only one step up from being totally nude, and I was expected to be photographed in it?

"Uh, Meanie? I don't think I can…"

Gabriel was nudging me to stand, snapping and pointing at the changing screen. "Yes. You can, Trouble." He smacked my thigh to get me jumping into motion, but it was lighter than usual.

"I really don't…"

"Nope! No arguing! Go. Chop chop! Or I'm going to put it on you myself." One of his fingers poked my side, and I squeaked before disappearing behind the screen.

I didn't register the color of the bathing suit until I had it on and looked down at myself. It was peach, and _a lot_ of my skin was showing. The triangles of the bikini top covered the important bits, but they moved along the string that tied around my torso. I had a feeling if I twisted, the top wouldn't follow me around. "Why do I have to wear this again?" I asked out to the room while still cowering behind the screen.

"Duh," called Luke from the direction of the bathroom. "Tropical beach scene. Come on, Sang. You're brighter than this."

"Shut the fuck up, Luke." Gabriel snapped from the edge of the screen. "She's nervous. You done yet, Trouble?" he asked me.

My finger pushed my bottom lip to my teeth in nerves. "Yeah, but..."

"I'm coming around," Gabriel announced a split second before he appeared, his eyes instantly scanning me from head to toe in an inspection. His cheeks flushed red as he reached forward and pulled my hand down from my face and placed my arms at my sides. "God damned shit." The expletives freely fell from him as his ears turned red. "Enjoy this while you can, Trouble, because I'm not letting you wear anything like that outside of this building."

I pulled a face at him. "I'm not enjoying it, Meanie." The way he said it made me believe he didn't like it, that I looked horrible in it, and would offend the eyes of anyone else who would see me. He was probably going to go find something more modest to avoid the camera bursting into flames when it tried to photograph me.

"Shut up," Gabriel said as he placed a light karate chop to my shoulder, avoiding my styled hair. "We need to put some tape on you so you don't fall out." He grabbed my hand and led me out from around the changing screen back toward the better lighting by the illuminated table. My free arm clutched myself across the chest as I stumbled along barefoot behind him. He took a clear dispenser roll of tape, and not knowing any better, I would have assumed it was for gift wrapping. His fingers, the tips slightly calloused from guitar playing, expertly applied strips to the inside of the bathing suit, manipulating the fabric carefully so he did not sneak a glimpse at what the suit was supposed to cover. "I always wondered just how far down your blush traveled, but I guess I know now," he whispered while adjusting the top to the way he wanted.

His comment made my blush deepen in color.

I heard stuff being jostled about from the bathroom, like Luke was gathering his toiletries and packing them back up. Shortly after the noise stopped, he cursed. "Gabe, man. Is she legal?"

Gabriel beamed. "You like it too, don't you?" he said over my shoulder to Luke.

Wait. They liked me in this bathing suit? That couldn't be right.

I turned to look over my other shoulder and saw Luke approaching me with my white robe hanging from his outstretched hand. He was looking to the side, actively avoiding looking at me. He couldn't have liked it if he wasn't looking.

"Here," he handed me the robe. "Put this on over it." That sealed it. He thought I was awful in this. My heart sank to my stomach as my mind wallowed in confusion as to why Gabriel was suddenly so happy his work.

Gabriel took the satin away from me the moment it got into my hands. "Oil up first, Trouble. Then the robe and go downstairs."

I obediently grabbed the bottle of baby oil and slathered it on, bending over at the waist to make sure my legs were adequately covered after I took care of my chest, stomach, and arms. Both Gabriel and Luke were completely silent the whole time.

"I can't get her back," Gabriel whispered to Luke in what sounded like regret as I straightened. He didn't want to touch me. I was horrifying in a skimpy bathing suit so that even Gabriel did not want to put his hands on my back. Maybe if I put on the robe and went downstairs, I could get Kota to oil my back by letting the robe lower behind me, keeping the rest of myself hidden.

"Your loss, Gabe." I heard satin swish as Luke padded to me, taking up the bottle and squirting some oil into his palm. His voice sounded from right behind my ear. "Hold your hair up carefully, Sweetie."

I did as instructed as Luke rubbed his palms together, and the oil was warm the moment his hands made contact with my shoulders, gliding over my skin across the back of my neck and over my shoulder blades. His hands radiated heat, and the motions soothed and relaxed my muscles my nerves had made tense. I groaned out loud as he applied pressure, moving from a mere rub into a massage down my back. Magic flowed from his fingers into me, easing my anxieties and calming my nerves as his warm breath skimmed over my fingers that were holding my hair out of the way.

"Luke!" Gabriel hollered. Both Luke and I turned to look at him. His back was turned to us, but he was glaring over his shoulder toward our direction. "You're rubbing the oil back off her now. Stop already!"

Luke beamed at me before bending to place a gentle kiss on my shoulder. He then stuck out his tongue and started pawing at it with his hands like he was scraping stuff off it. "Ick. Yuck! Gross. Baby oil doesn't taste good."

I giggled as I gathered my robe and slipped my arms in.

Gabriel still had his back turned to me as I descended the stairs to the studio. Maybe it was a good thing the pictures were to be edited if he was having such adverse feelings about me in this swimsuit. The digital editor could alter things to make it look at least presentable, or maybe they would just choose pictures that had just Luke and Gabriel in them.

Sighing as I approached the white backdrop, I found Kota and North hunched over with brooms, sweeping the concrete floor. Ms. Christine was fidgeting with her camera. The white backdrop was no longer fully white, for there was a blanket of sand covering the floor section. The edges were boxed in with wood trim, keeping the sand from spilling out uncontrolled onto the rest of the floor. This had to be the prop Kota and North were having to lift earlier, and they were sweeping what sand did manage to escape from the confines of the prop.

"Sang baby," North called out to me as I crept closer. "Your toes are going to be a little cold when you first get up there, at least until the lights warm the sand up." I smiled warmly at his warning and touched his arm in thanks.

Kota dumped his dustpan of sand onto the rest under the lights, then grabbed a little rake and smoothed it out, sending me his own smile. His eyes were hidden behind the glare of the lights reflecting off his glasses.

Ms. Christine leaned over the sand and quickly inspected it before instructing me to get on and start the posing. The sand was indeed a little chilly, and I curled my toes into the grit, trying to quickly adjust to the feel and ignore the goose bumps travelling up my calves. I stood in the center of the trap of sand, looking in one direction, then turning to look in the opposite direction, look up, tip my chin down, turn around, and I was tempted to sing out _and that's what it's all about! Hokey pokey!_

"Alright, Sang," Ms. Christine said. "The light check's fine. Go ahead and toss off your robe."

Kota held out his hand from just beyond the edge of the sand, ready to catch the garment. I slipped it off my shoulders and off my arms, bundling it up in my hands before throwing it to Kota.

Kota missed. He missed so badly, the heap of satin fell half on the concrete floor, half into the sand, and he was frozen in place like a statue. The bathing suit completely robbed him of his Academy-honed ninja-like reflexes. He had to be just as disgusted as Gabriel was upstairs.

"Fucking hell."

North's curse broke Kota out of his spell, urging him back into movement to gather up the robe at his feet. A blush stained his face red as he hastily shook the sand out from the folds back into the sand pit while muttering apologies I wasn't sure to who.

Ms. Christine either did not notice or ignored the whole thing, for she immediately started ordering me into poses and facial expressions for the camera. I was eventually given a sheer wrap to tie around my waist, and Gabriel had to be called down to adjust the knot to look right. Sand was sticking to my feet, and I hated trailing it over the concrete to get to Gabriel. Kota was quick to sweep it up right after me, though. The poses had me kneeling, sitting, and eventually laying in the sand, and it stuck to all over my body. After each pose and the associated clicks of the camera, North had to sweep the sand off my skin with a hand held broom brush followed by a rag. The broom tickled. Every time we had to rid the sand off me, Kota was applying the rake and the back of a shovel to the sandbox, erasing the imprint of my pose on it.

I changed into a crocheted pineapple-pattered monokini bathing suit at some point. It covered more skin, and I felt a little more comfortable in it, especially when it was paired with the beach wrap. Ms. Christine wanted a wind-blown effect with my hair while in this outfit and instructed North to hold a fan to my face. He got careless at one point and lowered the fan as it was still on, which created a little sandstorm at our feet, sending sand everywhere. It caught in our clothes, hair, and stuck to our lips. I felt bad when North was unlucky enough to have a few grains get stuck in his eye, and Kota had to take over fan duty while he went to go flush it out in the bathroom. Ms. Christine wound up thanking North later, because she really liked the whole sand-on-the-lips effect it wound up giving me, and we devoted the following ten minutes putting more sand on my lips and photographing it. If I was spitting out sand for the next few days, I would not have been surprised.

The lights did eventually warm up the sand until it was comfortable, and I was glad Gabriel and Luke would not have to suffer the cold toes I did when we began. My session finished after I changed into short jean shorts with a white button up blouse and the whole slew of pictures with that.

When Ms. Christine said I was done, I tried to help with sweeping the sand, but she quickly told me to go change back into the robe and to let the muscles deal with the hard labor. "You're working hard enough as it is, Sang," she said with a sympathetic smile. "Tell Luke it's his turn when you're up there, will you?"

Apprehension coiled in the pit of my stomach until it felt like a rock trying to sink to my knees. I was going up for Luke, but I had to face Gabriel.

I was shaking by the time I crested the stairs, a habit I thought I had conquered with the time with the guys, but apparently it still surfaced at times when dread seemed to nearly cripple me. I hated shaking like a Chihuahua, but I could find no strength to steel my nerves before entering the dressing room. Gabriel wouldn't want to dress me, to make me up, or extend his magic to transform me anymore. He saw a side of me he hadn't seen before with that bathing suit, a Sang that disgusted him. While his shopping trips exhausted me, I knew I would miss his attention when he dragged me along, his attention to detail and the process of watching him take his visions and make them reality. I saw myself becoming the unwanted doll, the toy with the imperfection that made it unwanted and quickly lost in the mud, only to be found and dumped into the trash. Gabriel wouldn't even want to wash my hair anymore.

Luke and Gabriel did not realize I had come up until I tried to choke in a sob. The moment the sound left my throat, their heads whirled around and looked at me with eyes wide.

Luke put down the bottle of oil and padded to me. "Sang. Cupcake. What's the matter?" He held out his hands to me and gathered me in a hug before I had a chance to back away. I didn't think I even wanted to back away. In that short time I was downstairs, I had already come to miss their touches, even if my body grossed them out. I was so selfish.

Gabriel put down an eyeliner pencil and came over, placing a warm palm on the small of my back. "Sang?" The concern was evident in his voice. "Did North say something to you? That fucktard."

I quickly shook my head no as I buried my face into Luke's satin-clad shoulder. His sugary vanilla scent was overshadowed by the smell of baby oil. "No, North's fine," I whimpered before I got him in trouble. "Luke?" I looked up into his chocolate brown eyes, amazed at myself for having enough backbone to actually make eye contact. "It's your turn."

Luke lips pursed before squeezing me tight to him. I caught him looking over my head and have a session of silent communication with Gabriel behind me before he dipped down and kissed my temple, releasing me and withdrawing his warmth from his hug. Without another word, he went down the stairs.

Gabriel caught my hips and turned me to look into his crystal blue eyes. "Spill it, Trouble."

The shaking started anew as my eyes darted over every part of his face except for his eyes. "You don't like me," I whispered on a tremble.

His head snapped back as his fingers gripped tightly into the shorts at my hips. "What the fuck?! Who told you that?!"

My posture cowered slightly. "No one needs to. I could see it."

One hand released my hip and the fingers lifted my chin to make sure I focused on his crystal blue eyes. They danced over every feature of my own face as his lips twitched in agitation. "Then you're fucking hallucinating. Is this some game to fish more compliments out of me? I told you before you don't need to do that shit. How many times do I need to tell you you're perfect, fucking beautiful, before you believe it?"

My eyes clamped shut. "You couldn't even look at me after I got into that bathing suit. I repulsed you."

Gabriel's arms wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me tight against him. He started swaying back and forth as he cooed my name over and over again. "Sang, Sang, Sang. Trouble. Darling, Sweetie, and Sugar Pie." The pet names nearly turned into a song as we rocked to and fro, the aroma of spicy oranges from his cologne of the day enveloping us. "I couldn't look at you because you looked _too_ good in that suit. If I kept looking at you, I would have gotten myself into so much trouble, Trouble."

I was wrong? I misinterpreted?

"God dammit, I feel like a broken record," he huffed before staring straight into me. "You. Are. Perfect. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Pretty. Alluring. And so fucking sexy, it shouldn't be legal. I think I need to write a song about you to get this message through your skull. Will that get the message across?"

I was such an idiot, and my stupidity was now stressing him out. I still felt horrible, but now it was because I made him stop everything to fret over me. Again. I slid my arms around his chest and hugged him back as we continued to sway side to side. "I'm sorry, Meanie."

"Shut up," he whispered, his mouth by my ear.

Neither one of us moved when we heard thundering footsteps on the stairs. It silenced when whoever it was paused at the top. A moment passed before a throat cleared. North.

"I hate to interrupt, but I thought Sang might need this," North muttered quietly.

Gabriel and I peeled apart and saw North holding out my little white robe out toward me.

I blushed, not knowing why I did, as I stepped forward and accepted the folds from North's hand. Our fingers brushed together briefly before he let go. "Thank you, North."

North looked from me, back to Gabriel, and back to me. "Everything okay? Luke's worrying downstairs like a granny."

Great. I was bringing everyone down with my insecurities. I meekly smiled and replied, "I'm fine."

North scowled at me. "I don't know whether to believe you when you say that, Baby."

Gabriel stomped back over to the lighted vanity table. "She means it this time. We sorted it out," he bristled as he leaned into the mirror. "I'm the fugly one here with only one eye lined," he said after inspecting his appearance in his reflection. "Go tell Luke we're farting sunshine again."

North nodded satisfied. "Go put that on, Baby," he told me, indicating the robe in my fist. "Then come down and join us. Luke will want to see you for himself."

I nodded a reply and went to go hide behind the changing screen once more.

I was slowly becoming more fluent in their dialect of silent communication. The moment I got within his view in the studio, Luke made eye contact with me, tilted his head, and raised his eyebrows. _Are you better now?_

A smile and nod of my head was my reply_. It's all okay. _

His worried skepticism morphed into a shining smile that seemed to light even the darkest shadowed corners of the studio.

Ms. Christine moaned in delight. "I need that smile, Luke. Don't stop."

Luke's smile is legendary. Paired with his already model-worthy jawline and cheekbones, I would not be surprised if Ms. Christine tried to recruit him to model for her full time. Then add in the rest of his body, toned and lithe lines funneling down into a pair of white swimming shorts trimmed in black? I licked my lips. Warmth spread throughout my body from a point low in my belly, but before I worried myself over what the sensations actually meant, I managed to convince myself it was the swell of pride I had for Luke.

More than half of his pictures featured his beaming grin framed by his long, blonde hair waving around his cheeks. His other solo shots mostly consisted of looking wistfully into the distance. Kota had me hold up a long pole with a tennis ball fixed to the end while I stood at the far end of the garage to give something for Luke to focus on. More than once, North had to bark at his brother to stop trying to make sand castles while they were adjusting the lighting. Each time he did, I secretly wanted to go join Luke and pile sand up with him.

During one particular change of lighting, I had just finished sweeping the sand off Luke's feet when he waggled his eyebrows at me. He gave me a conspiring smile and wink after checking over his shoulder, then waved his hand in a motion to tell me to back up out of the way. North was smoothing the sand out, Kota was placing lights, and Ms. Christine was concentrating on the viewing screen and settings on her camera. Was this another prank Luke was planning? Was this the time or place? How involved was I going to be this time? How much trouble was I going to get into? How much trouble was _Luke_ going to get into?

I backed up until I was pressed against a wall close to the door of the garage. He had a sizeable empty space to do whatever his imagination was telling him to do. Gabriel managed to sidle up beside me as Luke took in a couple deep breaths; I hadn't notice Gabriel come downstairs at all. I clung to Gabriel's arm, not sure whether I was dreading or really curious as to what Luke was about to do. Probably a mixture of both.

Luke jumped. His legs flew over his head in an arcing backflip, and his feet smacked back onto the bare concrete floor to solidly stick the landing. If I had blinked, I would have missed the entire thing.

Gabriel erupted into an enthusiastic applause. I think my jaw was gaping. That was spectacular. I suddenly wished I had a giant card to hold up a score of a perfect 10.

"Jesus Christ, Luke!" North bellowed. "Are you trying to kill yourself?! We're on a job, for fuck's sake! And if you break any of this equipment, it's coming out of your account!" The walls of the garage were rattling at the intensity of North's voice.

"Calm down, North," Luke placated his brother. "I'm just keeping myself loose. No harm done."

"Stop," North countered while growling. "It's stupid." I could see Luke deflate at the words.

"It's perfect," Ms. Christine announced, trumping everyone. "The inspiration you guys give me," she chuckled as she palmed a volley ball and tossed it to Luke, who caught it easily and cradled it. North's own jaw was gaping then, and I feared some sand would blow into it.

The next chunk of time was devoted to getting Luke to do various flips and acrobatics, this time on the sand and in front of the camera. Sand got flung everywhere, but Ms. Christine did not seem to mind a bit. Each flip had to be done several times before the camera captured the kinetic movements just the way she wanted, and if it wasn't for the light sheen of sweat beading on Luke's skin or a few panting breaths I caught on occasion, I would have believed it all came as natural and easily to him as walking. The flip that took the most time to capture was what North obviously thought was the most dangerous. North's pulse was beating visibly in his neck, and his Adam's apple kept bobbing up and down with nervous swallows as stood ground just outside the sand floor, ready to catch his brother if things didn't go right. I didn't blame him. Luke flipping a cartwheel with a volleyball to pivot on the ground made my heart skip a beat each time too. But past the worry was a soaring awe, reminding me of the first I saw him jump onto a roof. I was convinced he could fly then. I was convinced he could fly here and now.

Luke was catching his breath, bent over at the waist, and shaking sand out of his wavy hair after Ms. Christine announced it was Gabriel's turn.

Gabriel shrugged out of his white satin robe and handed it to me. I noticed then his earrings weren't decorating his ears, not even the trio of black ones at the top. His head looked naked to me. What worried me more was the apprehension and discomfort in his eyes as he shuffled over to the edge of the sandbox. Was he nervous? Self-conscious? He shouldn't have been. He was beautiful. Clad in the opposite of Luke, his shorts were black with white bands at the waist and bottom hems. His build was easily the slimmest of all the guys, but he was still defined in all the right places. And those collar bones just made me want to lick…

Okay, those weren't my thoughts just then. I shook my head to clear my mind of things I wasn't comfortable exploring just quite yet, willing the little ball of tension below my belly button to dissipate with them.

"I know this is a little late to bring up," Gabriel said to Ms. Christine as she fiddled with more settings on her camera, nerves evident in his tone, "but is my hair going to be an issue?" He pawed at the two blonde locks tickling his cheekbones. "I know they're not mainstream."

Ms. Christine looked up from the camera buttons and smiled warmly at Gabriel, obviously not stressed about his concern. "Don't you worry. I talked to the graphic designer yesterday on the phone, and this happened to come up in discussion." I saw Gabriel's face fall and blood empty from his head. He hated people talking about him behind his back because he was so self-conscious and lacked self-confidence. For some reason, he always assumed bad things were being said about him, which was the furthest from the truth. "He said he could take care of it with no problem," Ms. Christine continued as she dug around in a pocket to pull out her little notebook. "I quote, 'I can certainly handle Gabe.' A Mr. Danim Hayes is his name? He sounded like he knew you."

The life instantly flooded back into Gabriel's features. "Danim? Hell yeah, we know him. Shit. I feel a shit ton better about this whole job now knowing he's the one touching all these up."

"Gabriel!" Kota barked.

Gabriel blushed. "Pardon my language, Ms. Christine."

She laughed heartily and patted his shoulder before nudging him to get on the sand for testing the lights and first shots.

I snuck over to Kota when he found an opportunity to stand still for a moment and leaned into him. "This Danim guys is Academy, isn't he?" I asked quietly.

Kota smiled down at me, but I couldn't see his eyes past the glare of his glasses. "We can't hide anything from you, can we?" He squeezed me in a hug, obviously proud of me.

The whole modeling thing appeared to come the most natural to Gabriel. He effortlessly met Ms. Christine's demands with poses and facial expressions, seeming to know how to adjust himself in just the perfect way to attain what the camera wanted to see. I felt Ms. Christine and Gabriel were riding the same artistic wavelength, both striving to take a shared vision and doing whatever necessary to make it a reality, and the results were beautiful.

If the volleyball was Luke's star prop, the acoustic guitar was Gabriel's. He wielded the instrument like it was an extension of his own body, and I eventually remembered him mentioning he played. While North and Kota moved props and lights around, Gabriel took the time to quickly tune the strings and strum out a few chords. My heart soared when he added his voice to the strings. He belted out the chorus of a popular song on the radio, and I promise Gabriel's rendition was even better than the official radio release. Ms. Christine made him repeat his little performance for the camera, and I wanted to weep knowing the angelic sounds couldn't be preserved with the image.

As much as I was enjoying watching the guys be beautiful models, I was called back into action for the duo shots. Lots of time was spent in a hammock with each of them, and I hoped the pictures with my looks of terror were promptly deleted because keeping balance on a web of threads was nearly impossible, especially with the strange poses Ms. Christine ordered us into. I managed to flip both Luke and Gabriel in turn with the hammock, all of us landing onto the sand underneath us with "_oof_s" and way too much laughter to be considered professional.

The pose I best recalled with Luke involved him lying flat on his back on the sand. Apprehension rooted through me as I had to lower myself to settle sitting on his hips, but the moment he smiled at me, my nerves lifted. He assured me my "equivalent weight of a pillow" would not hurt him as I had to learn forward, using my knees to pin his shoulders down. His fingers tickled over the tops of my thighs, nearly dancing into the bottom hem of the shorts I was wearing. Luke had to tip his head up, and we hovered as if about to share a kiss. It took a lot of time to get things just right for Ms. Christine's and the camera's approval. Gabriel had to attack our hair with pins and assault us with bottles of hairspray to keep my hair from making too much of a veil over our faces and blocking our gazes onto each other's lips. My imagination wanted to try this pose again with him sometime later. It was a perfect scene to a daydream.

My time with Gabriel involved lots of draping over his shoulder as he played his guitar and him looking like he was trying to teach me how to play. I sat in his lap a lot as his arms wrapped around me, guiding my hands to where they were supposed to be. For kicks, I actually did strum the strings once. The sound was horrible. I cringed as everyone laughed, and I vowed to leave the guitar all to Gabriel. The most intense pose with him I recalled was him sitting on a chair with the guitar pressed up against his chest. I perched on his thigh, arching over the instrument to press my forehead against his as he gazed down at the frets. He sang Elvis songs under his breath.

The trio poses were a lot more fun than the cowboys I had to do yesterday. We spent most of the time playing in the sand, looking like we were enjoying a splendid day at the beach as best friends. I actually did get to pretend to build sandcastles with both Gabriel and Luke, followed by a giggle pyramid of bodies. The two guys knelt on their hands and knees while I knelt similarly on their backs. Kota aimed the fan at us while we balanced carefully, and the sand that whirled up made Luke sneeze, sending us into a hopeless tangle of limbs. It took several minutes for the giggling to wind down enough for us to piece ourselves back together and try again.

Ms. Christine wanted a series of pictures with the guys holding my wrists and ankles, swinging me back and forth like they were about to chuck me into the water. North quickly vetoed that one.

The set wrapped up with the three of us having to dunk our heads into a bucket of water I did not notice earlier waiting in a darkened corner of the studio. Kota assured me it was warm water when the day started, but it was nearly freezing by the time I submerged my scalp and lifted out. My teeth were chattering together and I was shaking uncontrollably. Gabriel made a point to make sure we didn't smudge our make up as we dunked, but nothing except expletives came from him after he soaked his hair. Luke's and my beach waves were lost.

Soaked like rags, we quickly went through the next poses, which were more like the Sang-sandwich poses involving three people as yesterday. I guessed our nerves were too shocked to continue the whole playful approach to the photos, so Ms. Christine had us doing more of the serious and tension-filled expressions as we pretended to have just surfaced from the waves of the ocean. When she said for the three of us to press closer together, we all happily obliged after the third dunk to rewet our hair, all sense of personal space bubbles completely forgotten as we huddled to share our body heat with each other.

The moment Ms. Christine called for the end of the set and lunch, North dropped a big and fluffy bath robe over my head. The folds were warm, like it had just come out of a dryer, and I smothered myself into it, warming instantly at both the heat the pile of fluff radiated and the bemused grin North gave me. "Thank you, North."

"You're welcome, Baby."


	7. Angels and Vampires

Pizza managed to materialize in the dressing room while I hid behind the dressing screen to change back into my satin robe. I did not question where the food came from; I was just grateful it was there. The smells alone had my stomach grumbling loud enough for the guys to laugh at me.

Kota and North took the time to do the heavy lifting and get the sand box out of the garage before they joined us for pizza. Ms. Christine allotted us an hour for a break, but we decided that as soon as we were finished eating, we wanted to get a jump on setting things up for the next set. Gabriel managed to get back into his jeans and electric blue t-shirt without me noticing. He could have simply snapped his fingers and magicked his clothing into place for all I knew. I heard when Luke sneaked behind the changing screen because he asked out to the room if he could keep the swimming trunks. Gabriel informed him that they were his to keep. Apparently Gabriel had a nice shopping trip preparing for this job.

Luke, in a faded t-shirt that advertised a retro line of fruit soda pop with faded jeans, grabbed my hand and led me back downstairs. Before we finished descending, I noticed the ground floor appeared like a completely different room. The large bay doors were open, allowing for the natural sunlight to flood in and illuminate everything in the studio that was previously cast into shadows. All the secrets the darkness his from us was now reveled to our eyes.

"Wow," Luke said. "This place is a lot smaller than I thought it was." He wasn't kidding. "Come on, Sang. Help me sweep out all this sand."

We grabbed brooms and methodically pushed the grains of sand that managed to escape the box when Kota and North hefted it out. Sand managed to settle in impossible corners and around nearly immovable props. We swept sand out of places where I could not logically figure out how it got there to begin with, pushing the piles out the bay doors and into the driveway. In the deep corners of the double garage, props and other equipment were stacked together in a twisted fusion of Tetris and a jigsaw puzzle. I was afraid to disassemble any of it in fear I could not get it back together.

"Luke?" I asked as I manipulated a smaller pile to consolidate with another nearby. "This is where you did that first flip, right?" I asked him, indicating the space I was standing in. In the darkness earlier, the area appeared much bigger than it was when illuminated.

When Luke looked over and inspected for himself, I could see the blood drain from his face. "Yeah, that's it." His focus was on some sections of picket-like fence leaning against a large trash can, the tips rather pointy and pointed mere feet from where he stuck his landing from the backflip.

"If you didn't catch yourself where you did, Luke…" I did not want to say the part of skewering himself like a kebab out loud.

"I need to apologize to North," he gulped.

I nodded frantically in agreement. I wanted to apologize to him too. North most likely saw the sharp hazard when he and Kota were first bringing in the sand box that morning. It was now no wonder why he got upset when Luke flipped without warning. He probably had similar concerns when he overruled the poses that had Gabriel and Luke trying to toss me around. As much nagging as North could do that seemed to merely ruin our fun, he was simply concerned for everyone's wellbeing. We had to be reminded of that every once in a while.

Ms. Christine came in through the garage bay doors right as Luke and I were sweeping the last grains past the threshold and onto the driveway. She did a double take upon recognizing us, and I realized just how silly it must have looked with me being barefoot and clad in nothing but the light, satin robe. "I need to frame the business card to your agency," she said as she pulled down the big metal doors with Luke's assistance, cutting the sunlight off from the studio once more and leaving us in relative darkness. "For most of the pros I've worked with, the closest thing to a broom they have ever held was a makeup brush. Are you sure you guys are being paid enough for all this labor you're including?"

Luke flashed her his million dollar beaming smile. "We're flattered, ma'am. I'll pass the compliments onto Mr. Blackbourne and the rest of our team."

Ms. Christine chuckled as she inspected pictures on the viewing screen. "You do that."

After placing the brooms away, Luke excused himself from Ms. Christine and ushered me back up the stairs. We both wanted to clear our consciences before we forgot.

Kota was in the bathroom shaving. North stood in front of the lighted vanity mirror, clutching his white robe low… dangerously low… on his hips. Half an inch lower and I was sure I would see the line where his butt started separating into halves. Gabriel sat in the chair beside him, leaning forward with his tongue sticking out the side as he drew just below North's ribs.

"Stop moving, North," Gabriel growled.

"Then stop fucking tickling me, Gabriel."

"I'm not _fucking_ tickling you, North."

"Yes, you _fucking_ are, Gabe."

"Just stand the fuck still, North!"

"I'm fucking trying to, Gabe!"

Luke decided to join in. "Keep arguing like that, North, and Sang is going to get the perfect view of your ass. Every time you curse, that robe slips further and further down."

I blushed and tried to avert my eyes. I wasn't successful.

North cursed once more as he yanked up the robe higher and tighter around his hips, making Gabriel curse as he had to suddenly withdraw his hand with the tiny paint brush without warning.

"For fucks sake, North!" Gabriel bellowed.

While the robe now covered more of his flesh, it hugged him tighter than it did before, and other details concerning the curve of his rear became noticeable in ways I probably wasn't supposed to notice. I couldn't decide which was worse, the robe nearly falling off, or being wrapped so snug against him.

North already had some tribal-like lines and curving designs running up the side of his neck. Gabriel was finishing up similar ones up just under his ribs and was inspecting the areas of skin even lower like he wanted to draw more.

"Trouble," Gabriel called out to me, beckoning me to come closer to him as he kept his gaze focused on North's hip. I obediently approached, and Gabriel pulled me in to wrap his arm around my waist as he sat. He side hugged me as he poked North in various spots. "I'm using up all your liquid eye liner on North right now. I'm sorry." That's what he was using to draw these fake tattoos on him?

I furrowed my brows together. He didn't need to apologize. "Gabriel, I have ten-"

"Fourteen!" Kota corrected me from the bathroom.

"…_fourteen_ different eyeliners," I continued. "I'm not going to miss one. I rarely wear the stuff as it is."

His arm smoothed the satin over my waist. It felt nice. "But this is your only liquid black. It's the best waterproof eyeliner you've got. We'll go get you some more the next chance we get to replace it. We can even go to that specialty store instead of-"

"NO!" I said a little too quickly and probably too forcefully. Gabriel looked up at me in confusion. I clearly remembered the last time we went shopping for makeup when I wanted little more than to forget the amount the cash register rang up at the end. Shopping with Gabriel was intense, and I was certain a trip to replace one tiny bottle of eyeliner would turn into another full blown and expensive experience. "I mean," I back pedaled before I hurt his feelings, "I know you're super busy, and I don't want to inconvenience you more than necessary. Just let me have the empty pot, and I'll go pick some up. I have much more free time than you do." I casually ran my fingers through his russet locks, now nearly dry from dunking into chilly water as part of the last set he starred in. My nails lightly scraped against his scalp.

Gabriel closed his eyes on a sigh and rested his head on my hip with a shudder. "Fine, Trouble. We can do that."

"Speaking of apologies," Luke stepped up next to North, who was watching my exchange with Gabriel in the mirror.

North's eyes lifted to look at his brother's brown stare in the mirror instead. "What are you talking about?" His black eyebrows lifted in question.

"North," Luke began, "I'm sorry. You were right. Sang and I saw more of the space where I did that flip when the garage doors were open. I nearly did kill myself down there."

North huffed. "Yeah, you did."

Luke shrank into himself with shame at his brother's reply. "I'm sorry," he said again.

Rolling his eyes, North slung an arm around Luke's shoulders and pulled him into a sideways hug. "But I didn't need to be a harsh ass about it. I nag. I yell. I get it. I should have just told you about the fencing instead of calling you stupid, bro."

"I should trust you more, North."

"I shouldn't have called you stupid, Luke."

I recalled North calling the situation stupid, not his brother, but I didn't have the heart to bring it up and interrupt their moment.

Gabriel patted my thigh to indicate the moment was over, and I stepped back to give him room. "Alright, lover boys. Kiss and make up already, because I have more work to paint on."

Two sets of dark eyes glared at the mirror, directed at Gabriel's reflection before glancing back to each other.

"I'm not kissing you," Luke stated simply.

"I'm not kissing you either," North replied flatly.

"Good," Kota said in a firm tone, emerging from the bathroom in his own white robe. "Now that we've cleared up the no kissing rule, let's get back to work. Chop chop."


	8. Angels and Vampires (cont)

Gabriel finished up North's makeup by applying some brownish-grey color along the lines of North's abdominal muscles with a makeup brush. Gabriel said it was to make his six pack stand out more, like it had more shadow in the little valleys between the muscle groups. Gabriel then handed me a bottle of baby powder and a giant powder puff, instructing me to dab (not wipe!) it all over North's skin. I was allowed to ignore his legs.

The first squeeze of the baby powder made a cloud that engulfed both North and me, sending us into a coughing fit.

"Baby," North said in between coughs. "If you don't like me anymore, just say so. You don't have to try and kill me by suffocation." His eyes twinkled at me, but they looked foreign on the North I normally knew because of the colored contacts he wore. His irises were silver instead of their normal dark brown.

I tried to apologize but couldn't get it out around my own coughing. North had to guide me out of the white cloud still trying to settle before I could get some deep, clean breaths into my lungs. He handed me a bottle of water, which I drank from greedily to clear my mouth of the baby freshness. Once done, North grabbed the bottle from me and took several gulps, not caring my lips were just upon it. I blushed, thinking it was like he took a second hand kiss from me.

"Why aren't we oiling you up like the rest of us?" I asked as I squeezed more baby powder onto the puff with more caution. The second attempt was vastly more successful.

North smirked down at me. "We're not shooting for Twilight, Sang Baby. Real vampires don't sparkle and shine."

Kota laughed from behind me. Gabriel chastised Kota. "Yeah, motherfucker. Keep laughing if you want your eyeballs poked out with a pencil. Shit."

I dabbed the powder puff over every hard plane of North's chest, abdomen, and back. There were a lot of planes that needed to be covered. He couldn't stifle a couple grunts as I gently dabbed over his pectorals. Even through the silver contacts, his gaze darkened at my touch. I did my best to concentrate on the work and not think about how easy it would be for me to lean forward just a little and press my lips to those shadows Gabriel brushed onto his tummy, but I managed to restrain myself. Normal friends didn't lick each other like that, did they? Except for Gabriel. He licked me, but not in the way I urged to do to North. I shook the thoughts out of my head, not knowing where they came from. The taste of baby powder was still fresh in my airways, and I didn't want to make it worse, at least that's what I told myself to keep myself under control.

The baby powder lightened up North's normally tan complexion until he looked deathly pale. Add in his silver irises and heavily shadowed eyes, he truly became a being of the undead. The thick, black lines ornamenting his sides and neck added a hint of exoticism to him. He looked amazing, and I wasn't sure if the camera could contain it all without bursting into flames.

Once Gabriel deemed I was finished with powdering him up, North took my hand and pulled me down the stairs. I missed the feel of his hand around mine when he released me. As excited as I was to be Gabriel's girlfriend for the weekend, I did not like how the pretense managed to put a veil between me and the rest of the guys. I could never freely indulge in the way every one of them vied for physical contact with me when other people were around.

As soon as Ms. Christine spotted him, she tossed a pair of black leather pants and black motorcycle boots at him. He changed into them behind the privacy screen set up in the studio, then commenced with the light check.

I could tell with the way North was avoiding eye contact with Ms. Christine that he was not entirely comfortable with her leaning into him to closely as she inspected his features, But North managed not to flinch, even when she reached yup to run her fingers up the side of his face. "Perfect," she said the moment she took her hand back. "Thank you for remembering not to shave today. That gruff is exactly what we need."

I could tell Ms. Christine meant nothing personal or intimate by the touch, but I still would have shrunk away if I were in North's position. He seemed to relax slightly as she backed off him to gather her camera and start clicking the shutter away.

This modeling thing did not come naturally to North and it was painfully obvious with his turn shortly after Gabriel's time on the set. North made the poses Ms. Christine asked for look awkward, and it took significantly more time to adjust him the right way. Ms. Christine had to word her instructions the way she described what she wanted in several different manners before North managed to pass the camera's approval. I overheard Luke lean over and whisper into her ear that his baby brother was new to the industry. He thanked her for her patience with him, even though Ms. Christine didn't seemed bothered with anything to begin with.

The session came to an impasse when North could not seem to look intimidating and scary enough, which was odd because those were the only two adjectives anyone would use to describe him at a first impression. North was too far out of his element, too nervous, to let his natural aura radiate and scare the digital film out of the camera.

Ms. Christine was finally started to show the beginning signs of getting flustered when Luke told everyone to wait a tick before he sprinted up the stairs to the dressing room. Not even thirty seconds later he reappeared, obviously hiding something behind his back. Luke grabbed my hand and led me to the edge of the white backdrop, well in North's line of sight but out of Ms. Christine's working space. My brows were knit together in confusion until Luke brought forth his hidden hand to reveal to everyone an opened back of chocolate chips. It was already half empty. Luke fished out a single chip and set the bag down on a nearby prop. Standing directly behind me, Luke wrapped the arm with the chocolate around my shoulders as he leaned down to whisper into my ear. His hair tickled my neck. "Keep your eyes on North and open your mouth, Cupcake."

I understood Luke's plan once I glued my eyes onto North, and Luke gently tossed the chocolate behind my teeth. North's expression darkened with narrowed eyes, and the camera started its flurry of clicks once more. Luke had managed to successfully channel North's fury in a controlled se tting, and I was the tool in the plan. Luke was a genius.

Luke and I managed to take the teasing to a higher level by adding elements of playfulness and flirtation. I would stick out my tongue as far as I could for Luke to place a morsel on the very tip. I then curled my tongue back in to behind my teeth to savor the semi-sweet bit of flavor. Luke traced a few morsels over my lips before popping them into my mouth. Chocolates were tossed into my mouth (Luke had great aim), pushed past my closed lips, and picked out of Luke's palm with only my teeth. Each new method of ingesting the chips inspired a new expression of raw anger from North, and Ms. Christine loved it.

We kept up our chocolaty antics as North progressed through his wardrobe. He started off shirtless with the black leather pants and boots. He kept the pants on the entire time, which I did not mind. They were rather form fitting and very flattering. The boots had little metal pyramid-shaped studs as accents along a strap.

Luke and I had to abandon the bag of chocolate chips for a bit when North put on a black duster jacket. I knelt behind North and tugged at the bottom hems of the duster so they pulled behind him while Luke stood in front, pointing a fan to make the drapes of fabric billow dramatically. Ms. Christine wasn't satisfied with how the jacket was behaving with just the fan, so she had me curl up underneath the tails and hunch over to prop over the yards of material. I thought it funny this job had me impersonating a solid gust of wind, but the giggles were replaced by a new blush when I realized just how close and personal I was becoming with the back of North's legs. Then Ms. Christine asked me to tuck in closer. I gulped as I scooted, being very careful to not brush against the leather material of North's pants. I was close enough to inspect the stitching, yet Ms. Christine asked me to get in closer still. I muttered a quick apology up to North before I pressed my shoulders against the back of his legs, leaning the side of my head along the back of his thighs. If he bent his knees any more, he would be sitting on my hair.

"Are you okay down there?" North asked me.

I squeaked an answer, "I'm fine," before burying my face into the palms of my hands.

"Get your angry face on again, North," Ms. Christine ordered him. There was a pause and an obvious lack of shutter clicks. "Luke, throw one of those candies at him, or something."

I heard a _plink_ against the material of the duster.

"Throw some more."

"I know how to get him mad," Luke said as I heard his footsteps get closer to us. "Here, let me pull your finger, North."

I gasped. North yelled so forcefully, I was sure the walls of the garage shook. "Fuck off!"

"North," I growled as menacingly as I could, "if you fart, you will die." It sounded as threatening as a kitten on a bed of cotton balls.

Ms. Christine chuckled as the clicks started up again. "That did it. Thank you, Luke."

The sound of the studio opening sounded as I held my breath to keep as still as I possibly could as Ms. Christine took the pictures. I did not figure out who went through that door until I was allowed to tumble out from under the jacket. Feeling playful, I rolled across the white surface of the floor, warmed by the lights, until I laid on my back with my head pointed out toward the rest of the darkened studio. Standing over me was Mr. Blackbourne, his image inverted by my position. I could see his steel grey eyes through the lenses of his black rimmed glasses. They blinked at me a couple times as I felt North and Luke quickly bend over me and straighten the flimsy white robe I had forgotten was on me. The Taylor Brothers gave my modesty back to me.

Mr. Blackbourne cleared his throat and lifted his fingers to the knot of his red tie. "Miss Sorenson."

I knew I was red from a blush. "Mr. Blackbourne." I had no idea just how much of me he had just seen.

Ever the gentleman, he walked onto the white floor and around me, offering a hand to help me back upright. I took it with my other hand clutched under my neck to make sure the satin remained closed as I was pulled to standing. Even under the hot lights, Mr. Blackbourne's smooth hands were still warm to the touch. Once my footing was steady, he let go of my hand and pushed his glasses further up his nose before turning away from me.

"So you're Mr. Blackbourne!" Ms. Christine said happily. "It's a pleasure to meet you in person." They shook hands. "Here to check up on your guys?"

Mr. Blackbourne shook his head. "I have complete faith in my team. I'm here to assist where needed."

Ms. Christine's jaw dropped. "A manager that climbs down the ladder for manual labor? You people are unheard of."

The corner of Mr. Blackbourne's mouth lifted in that millimeter smile of his.

North's portion of solo shots did not last much longer. He had pictures taken with a loose navy sweater that had several holes in the knitting. He wrapped up his shoot wearing what looked like a sleeveless shirt adorned with numerous belts, straps, chains, spikes, and studs. North had to hold his breath for several seconds once he achieved each pose so all the dangly bits could stop swaying. Once they were still, the camera clicked as fast as it could before North started turning blue.

By the time North wrapped up, Mr. Blackbourne had shed his suit jacket and tie. The sleeves to his shirt were rolled up to his elbows. He put his back into as much work as the rest of the guys when they had their turn assisting.

I only managed to catch a glimpse of Kota without his glasses as he prepped for his turn at solo shots before Gabriel dragged me back up the stairs for my own hair and makeup.


	9. Angels and Vampires (again)

"Gabriel?" I asked once my rear was situated in the dressing room chair and a comb was applied to my hair.

"Yeah?"

"Was that a dog collar hanging from Kota's hand when we passed him downstairs?"

Gabriel snickered, making him pause in his strokes through my hair. "Yeah. It was."

"Max doesn't wear collars like that, does he?" I scanned my numerous memories of the golden retriever, trying to recall just what the dog wore around his neck to indicate he was owned and domesticated by the Lee family. I was fairly certain it was a wide strip of hunter green nylon and not the thick, black strap of leather with spikes in even intervals along its length dangling from Kota's fingers.

"Nope!" Gabriel let the P pop dramatically. His reflection showed a wicked grin upon his lips. "Kota is so far out of his element, it's comical. I wish we could be down there right now to watch him sweat this out."

"What do you mean?" I asked as I eyed his black glasses folded neatly and sitting upon the top of the dressing table among the various brushes, compacts, and palettes of colors. He had to be wearing his contacts again.

"Our dear Leader is playing Sub today."

"Sub?" Apparently, I had a lot more to learn on this mission. The terminology was still going straight over my head.

The comb slapped against Gabriel's thigh as he huffed. "God damn shit, Sang. You're too innocent. And now I have to be the one to spoil it." He started sectioning my hair and held one portion straight up toward the ceiling. He continued to answer me as he ran the comb the opposite direction than intended, from the middle of the strands toward the roots. "Sub is short for _submissive_. It's a BDSM term, usually paired with its opposite, _Dominant._ What those mean is that the Dom-"

"Mr. Coleman!" Mr. Blackbourne's commanding tone interrupted the explanation. I jumped in my seat, startled. He stood at the top the stairs and entered. "Now is not the time nor the place for such lessons. Please let Miss Sorenson keep what innocence she has until the end of the job before you go corrupting her."

I knew what BDSM stood for and had a vague idea as to what it entailed, and to think Gabriel was about to share some of its intricacies with me made my skin flush pink once more.

Mr. Blackbourne entered the dressing area and strode over to the lighted table Gabriel and I were at, grabbing the bottle of baby oil. He made eye contact with me through the mirror. "If you are interested in such topics, Miss Sorenson, I can make arrangements to acquaint you with the lifestyle at a later time." I could not read the expression on his face, but his eyes were twinkling silver through his glasses.

"Mr. B!" Gabriel gasped. "You're not propositioning her, are you?"

My violin teacher cleared his throat and adjusted the knot of his tie, almost like a tic showing his was uncomfortable with something. "No. I am merely ensuring any of her curiosity she may have will be led down a safe path."

"Mmhmm. Be glad I like you, Mr. B, or I'd totally call bullshit on you." Gabriel continued to comb more sections of my hair the wrong direction, making my hair look like a nest. "No baby oil for Kota, by the way. He was already powdered up. His order is for matte."

Mr. Blackbourne nudged his glasses further up his nose after he readjusted the quarter full bottle of oil in his grip. "Indeed. I'm holding onto this for Miss Sorenson." He nodded quickly to both me and Gabriel before turning and heading back down the stairs. I caught a glimpse of the millimeter smile grace one side of his lips before he pivoted out of view.

"Don't ever tease your hair like this yourself," Gabriel instructed me. "It's one of the quickest ways to destroy your hair."

"Oh," I whispered, my thoughts more on just how much Mr. Blackbourne knew about alternative lifestyles, and whether he would be the one to provide the synopsis. Was it really a lifestyle, or could it be pursued as merely a hobby? Was I curious to begin with?

Speaking of curiosity…

"Gabriel?"

"Hm?" He was smoothing my hair over what he had teased, making my head look three times bigger than it was.

"North has a tattoo on his chest, doesn't he?" I recalled he had gotten the ink pressed into his skin the morning after our night at the North Shore, but I hadn't discovered it until a month or so later. He had done it to preserve a discolored bruise I had given him with a rather passionate bite, but I could not recall seeing any trace of it when I dabbed baby powder onto him.

Gabriel chuckled and his reflection beamed. "You noticed, huh?"

"More like I didn't notice a thing, Meanie. What happened to it?"

He adjusted a few more locks of my hair before reaching to grab the hair spray. Before releasing the cloud of chemicals at me, he pointed the nozzle to some equipment set up on a crate next to the vanity. It looked like a silver pen with extra bits coming off it and a hose leading from the side toward a little motor. "Airbrush. I'd say I did a pretty damned good job of covering it up too." He unleased the hairspray on me, and I coughed on the sticky fumes.

"I had completely forgotten he had one until just now," I said once I caught my breath again. Gabriel picked up on the implied compliment, and his crystal blue eyes gleamed with pride.

The next several minutes were devoted to eye makeup alone. I sat incredibly still with my eyes closed as Gabriel lightly brushed and dabbed over my eyelids. Once he allowed me to look, the mirror showed a beautiful smoky, sultry look. "I thought you said I wasn't allowed to wear smoky eyes," I said to him as I rotated my head back and forth to check it out from various angles. When he and I first started practicing applying makeup to my face, Gabriel forbade me from using what he called 'smoky eyes' because it was not for me, and it would attract trouble. If he did not allow me to wear it then, why was he applying it now? "I'm not allowed to tease my hair, but you just did that too. Why are you doing things I can't?"

"Yeah, I know what I said, Trouble. Don't try to make me eat my words, because it won't work." A bigger and fluffier brush swept over my cheeks with a shade of pale pink for blush. "This is for a commission to fulfill someone's order, and it's only happening once. With your hair, once should be okay without damaging it beyond repair. With your makeup and the bikini, you can't wear it outside of here because the attention you'll attract will be bad. You don't want the male population of Ashley Waters looking at you like hungry, rabid dogs, do you?"

I shook my head in the short time Gabriel withdrew the brush from my skin to reach for lip color. I got enough unsavory attention in school from passed notes alone. North still confiscated them from me, and I was too happy to let him do it.

"Right now, you're pretending to be someone else. What happens here won't come back to haunt you later. Making a habit of all this stuff, though, is a no-no. It's all about application to the situation." He smeared his lips together in front of my face and motioned for me to mimic him to spread the lip color evenly. "Go ahead and put on these shoes, Trouble, then we can go down and watch Kota finish up."

He handed me a pair of black ankle boots ornamented with a small silver chain and a little cross charm. The most remarkable feature were the spiked heels that stood what seemed to be six straight inches up. I would be standing solely on my toes. Having worn mostly sandals and tennis shoes throughout my life, these looked like they would kill me. If I could keep my balance long enough, I was sure a kick to someone else would kill _them_.

"Meanie? I think I'll put these on downstairs, if you don't mind." There was no way I could survive stairs in these Death Heels from Hell, and I prayed my time in front of the camera would consist of mostly sitting and none of Luke's ninja flipping.

Gabriel escorted me down the stairs with one hand around my waist and the shoes dangling from the other.

Ms. Christine was laying on her belly on top of some scaffolding erected over Kota. Kota was laying on his back on the floor. He wore a white collared button up with a black vest, both undone and open to reveal his bare chest. His legs stuck out onto the concrete flooring glad in a pair of black leather pants similar to what North was wearing earlier. His feet were bare.

"Luke. Take that feather by his nose and rotate it 45-degrees counterclockwise, will you? Ms. Christine requested.

The blonde held a clear zip lock bag half full of black feathers. It stayed in his grip as he stepped onto the white backdrop and crouched by Kota's head, reaching over to adjust the one feather of a dozen placed around on the male model.

"Good. Now get another one and cover up his nipple like we're censoring him for PBS." Everyone chuckled except for Mr. Blackbourne, who was holding onto one end of the scaffold to provide extra stabilization.

"No, not both of them. Just… yeah. That one. Perfect." As soon as Luke cleared, the camera started clicking again.

Gabriel ushered me to sit on a stool before finding a crate and moving it to the floor in front of me. "I know you're capable of doing this yourself, Sang, but let me do this for you?" he asked as he sat on the crate and carefully lifted my bare foot with his hands like he was picking up a baby bird that fell out of its nest. His crystal blue eyes looked up to me, pleading as he set my foot on his lap, "Please?"

I had no idea what he was asking to do for me, but I trusted him. My smile was warm and encouraging, showing me acceptance of his gesture. "Go ahead, Gabriel."

Reaching down beside him, he picked up one of the ankle boots and pulled down the zipper on the side. Opening it up with one hand, he guided my foot to it. He slipped the boot on, and I had to wiggle my toes to fully insert myself into it. I felt like Cinderella when she was finally discovered and being fitted into the glass slipper. The pointy heel dug into Gabriel's jeans, but he either didn't notice or didn't mind. The zipper was pulled up the inside of my ankle, and my foot was sealed in.

Gingerly, he lifted the foot and placed it on the floor to replace it with my other and into his lap to repeat the process. While Gabriel tending to me was a normal dynamic in my life by that point, it all seemed to be a part of his job. It was work to make me presentable, even if he did enjoy it at times. When it came to clothing, he usually trusted me to get it on by myself, only needing to dictate what I wore. His hands were involved directly with my hair or the rare instances I needed makeup.

But this? Putting these shoes on my feet himself? This was different. I couldn't feel anything particularly wrong with it, but it was _intimate_. I did not want anyone else putting shoes on my like this. Sure, the other guys frequently slipped off my sandals, and Dr. Green had my feet in his lap whenever he could to rub my toe. None of that compared to the attention Gabriel was giving me right then.

This was going to be out "thing" to share just between him and me. That, and the possessive-lickey thing, I guess.

**A/N: Awkward spot to stop at, I know. But I wanted to throw all ye birdies a bone and let everyone know why there has been a lack of updates. The FB community housing the displaced birds from the Academy forum created an event known as "Update Day," where we writers have been challenged to publish ten thousand words among our works on April 19****th**** of 2015. I have been hoarding my updates to meet that quota. **

**Alas! I have exceeded the quota at this point and am posting the overflow early! –happy dances, trips, and faceplants onto Ms. Christine's white backdrop- **

**Ow.**

**Anyways… -regains composure- …the rest of **_**A Photo Is Worth A Thousand Blushes **_**will arrive on the 19****th****. The last chapter(s) and the epilogue will magically appear then. I don't think it'll add to up 10k words with this story, but it'll be nice nonetheless (the majority of my words are devoted to **_**Paper Crane). **_**I like the ideology of quality over quantity anyway. **

**While we wait for the fateful day, give me some new humorous ideas to torture… I mean… **_**expose**_** the GB team to! My imagination starves for musings. **_**Feeeeeeeed meeeeeeee…**_


	10. Angels And Vampires (end)

**A/N: Happy Update Day!**

Once my feet were secured into the Death Boots, Gabriel stood up and enveloped me into his arms as I remained perched on top of the stool. His breath fanned warmly over my ear as I wrapped my own arms around his torso. Hugging him unabashed in front of others exhilarated me and filled me with a warmth. I loved being his girlfriend, but the elation was bittersweet. Once the job wrapped up in a couple hours, the magic would evaporate. The clock would strike twelve, and my beautiful gown would turn back to rags as the carriage morphed to a pumpkin once more. At least I had the upcoming book covers to look forward to being my souvenir glass slipper.

I felt a stare from across the studio on me as Gabriel took my hands and helped me stand. Thankfully he did, because the moment my feet were under me, my ankle gave out. I gasped as the sudden sensation of free falling overcame me, even if it was for a split second and only a handful of inches. Gabriel's hold on my arms kept me from losing my balance and tipping over.

"Whoa there, Trouble." He situated himself beside me, holding onto one hand as his arm closest to me wrapped around my waist to support me. "Heel to toe like you usually do. Don't clomp like a horse. That's my girl," he cooed encouragingly.

A few more stumbles overtook me b the time we walked the short distance to where Mr. Blackbourne stood. I was walked tip toed, and my feet already screamed for relief. How did women do this on a regular basis? Why did some subject themselves to this torture all day?

Gabriel handed me off to Mr. Blackbourne after pressing a chaste kiss to my ear. The moment Mr. Blackbourne let go of the scaffolding, North was there to take his place and support the framework. The exchange among the three of them was seamless and appeared to be rehearsed.

"Kota needs some touch up," Gabriel whispered to me before peeling away to crouch before Kota, who was kneeling with his chin tucked against his chest and his hands palm up on his thighs. His knees were spread wide, and he looked like he was meditating.

Mr. Blackbourne took my hand and waist like Gabriel had before, and I was sure he could feel my nervous shaking wracking through my entire body. "Miss Sorenson?" He tipped his head to force me to look directly into his steel grey eyes.

"I'm not sure I can do this," I admitted immediately, knowing I could not hide anything from his gaze. "I'm sorry, Mr. Blackbourne." I was a disappointment.

"What makes you say that?" he asked. His tone held no disapproval or disgust toward me, but a curious inquiry. "From what I have gathered, you have performed with excellence these past two days. Why are you doubting yourself now?'

I caught myself before I bit my lip, knowing he would pull it right back out from in between my teeth. "I can't even stand by myself right now. What if my ankle injury from the first week of school keeps me from wearing shoes like these ever again?" Even though I knew how to fall from heights without killing myself, the spill I took from the second floor at Ashley Water High School at Friday Fall still managed to bruise bone. The lasting damage from that must be why my feet wanted to buckle sideways constantly. "I think I'm broken beyond repair."

Mr. Blackbourne's fingers curled into the satin robe at my waist. "You aren't broken, Sang Sorenson. Your injury from the beginning of the school year has made a full recovery. The soft tissue around your ankle are simply not accustomed to such footwear. With practice, your muscles and tendons will strengthen.

I could see myself stumbling through Nathan's house in heels until I became decent at walking gracefully, though I would make sure no one was around to witness. Yet, the guys tried to make it a point to never leave me on my own, so that plan just got shot out of the sky. Why would I need to be proficient in wearing stiletto heels to begin with? Other than to avoid embarrassing myself when I had to model in front of a camera…

My thoughts must have been spelled out clearly on my face, for Mr. Blackbourne leaned in close to me and whispered, "Shall I make arrangements to take you out for ballroom dancing to practice?"

Every single ballroom scene from every Disney Princess movie played in my mind's eye in the span of a second. Then my imagination replaced the princely figures with a man in a grey suit and black rimmed glasses on his nose, not a single hair on his head misplaced. He was stunning and twirling perfection, leading me in flowing gowns across a pristine and shining dance floor…

My ankle collapsed again as I lost my focus on balancing on top of the pointed spikes under my heels. Mr. Blackbourne's grip on my waist kept me from falling into a jumbled heap of barely clothed limbs on the floor. My cheeks were burning in yet another blush as I thanked him and regained my footing.

Kota's solo shots featured a lot of his back in every ensemble of clothing he wore. Mr. Blackbourne explained to me that Kota's character was the Fallen Angel, and the photo editor was going to superimpose wings into the images. He must have thought the explanation was necessary because he caught me blatantly staring at the details of Kota's back, how the lean muscles underneath the skin rippled when he moved. Between Gabriel and Ms. Christine's magic, the costumes he had to wear accented the inverted triangle shape of his torso in just the right ways. Who knew that backs could be so attractive and could give me urges to reach out and try to touch?

Gabriel said he wanted to mess around at first and glue some feathers on Kota's shoulder blades. But he admitted Ms. Christine vetoed that idea with the reasoning that it would take too much time in between costumes to clean up, and we needed to have faith in the guy doctoring up the photos.

Mr. Blackbourne walked me around the studio several times as Kota finished up his slot so I could gained more confidence in wearing the shoes I wore. At first he had to clutch firmly around my waist to keep me upright, but by the time Ms. Christine ordered Kota to strip down to his pants, and for Luke and North to readjust lights and equipment, all I needed was to have my hand tucked into the crook of Mr. Blackbourne's elbow. He commended me on how quickly I adjusted, but I could not tell if the compliment was sincere or if he was just trying to boost my self-esteem before I went before the camera.

He quickly and efficiently rubbed the baby oil over my limbs before handing me a black mini skirt and a backless white blouse to change into. I managed to slip the skirt on without stabbing holes into the material from the Death Heels.

When I emerged from behind the changing screen North pressed a pair of pills I recognized as over-the-counter pain relief medication. "Your turn, Sang Baby, but take these first. You'll want them to kick in before your feel fall off." I nodded and obediently swallowed them dry. "Shit. Let me find you some water."

My hand shot forward and clutched at his bare bicep to keep him from rushing away. "It's fine. I don't want to hold things up."

His brown eyes flitted back and forth between my own. "You sure? You need water for pills."

I smiled, touched by his concern. "Thank you, but I'm a big girl now and can take medicine by myself. If you want to have a bottle nearly to keep me hydrated, though, I wouldn't mind."

North grunted before running the back of his fingers down my cheek. I leaned into his touch, savoring the contact even if his knuckles were calloused.

"Don't fuck up her makeup!" Gabriel hollered from across the studio.

The vampire before me palmed the back of my neck and pulled me toward him until his lips collided with my own. "Go do your thing, Sang Baby," he said huskily after our mouths broke contact.

"Thank you, North Star."

In front of the lights, my feet managed to behave and support my weight. "Gabriel," Ms. Christine called out as she inspected me through the camera lens. "I'm going to have my usual makeup girl call you so you can each her how to do this 'freshly kissed' effect. This is too good."

"Huh?" Gabriel raised his eyebrows. "What eff-"

North cut him off with a karate chop to the top of Gabriel's head and followed it up with a glare. "He can't. Trade secret," North replied to the photographer.

My solo shots had me in mostly backless shirts. After the white blouse, I changed into a black one that was little more than a vest. Gabriel had to pull out the doubled sided tape again to keep me from falling out of it. The shirts were paired with skirts of various lengths, all of them black. Toward the end, the skirts were replaced by jeans that hung low on my hips, then my own pair of leather pants that hugged my butt and thighs like they were a second skin.

I had to remove the boots to slip my legs into the jeans and leather, and my arches screamed at me, protesting their abuse. I wondered what it would take to convince Kota to rub the soreness away from my feet once we were back at Sunnyvale Court. Knowing him, I just needed to ask, and he would happily oblige if he did not have more Academy work lined up. I silently prayed he did not have more work to do after we were done here, not for my own selfish desire for a foot rub, but because this job was exhausting enough and he was sure to be as tired as I was.

Ms. Christine had me pose with numerous different props. We started off with a variety of different crosses, some plain and others ornate and sparkling with jewels. Then we moved on to the more awkward items, like wooden stakes and leather whips. I knew better than to go flinging the long length of cow hide around in fear I would hurt someone or simply knock myself off balance while standing on the spikey heeled boots.

Mr. Blackbourne had to step in and get very hands on with me when I had to handle a katana. Thankfully, the blade was not sharpened, so when Mr. Blackbourne gave me a crash course on how to properly hold the samurai sword, the chances of me accidentally slicing his arm off was minimal. Though, knowing my magnetism for trouble and bad luck in my time in South Carolina, I wouldn't have been too surprised if I unwittingly found a way to decapitate my violin teacher.

I silently hoped his life insurance policy was current.

Before I realized how much time had passed or how many hundreds of camera clicks sounded, North joined me on the set.

Ms. Christine called for a "hungry look" from the tall, dark, and handsome specimen pressed up against me. Unlike earlier in the day, there were no issues with him producing the right expression immediately. I knew his favorite color was black, and I was wearing lots of it. Even with the metallic silver contacts back in, he looked like he was ravenous and could eat me alive.

I was ordered to hug, hang, and crawl all over North's bare chested physique for the camera, making me feel like a monkey on a jungle gym. He stood there stoically, like an immovable pillar, never budging under my weight.

The energy in the air changed when we got to the biting phase of the duo shots. Ms. Christine asked me multiple times if I was okay with it, and every time I assured her I was fine. So North was ordered to apply his teeth to my fingers (I was glad Nathan wasn't there to witness that), wrist, and ear. Ms. Christine squealed when North went the extra mile and gently pulled my lower ear lobe, stretching the soft skin away from my head. My neurons were already alight with his close proximity and state of half-nakedness, but I swore fireworks were going off between us when he had to bite my neck. I desperately wanted to release control over myself and revisit our activities from when North and I first went to the beach together, but the commands to look this way, tilt our heads the other direction, don't move and hover right there… Those helped me from clamping my own teeth down onto North's skin to leave bruises.

When Kota's turn with me came up, North excused himself and rushed up the stairs to the dressing room, ignoring Luke and Gabriel's snickers.

My time with Kota started with him similarly bare chested. The only article adorning the upper half of his body was that black strap collar with the spiked studs around his neck. The accessory was almost enough to detract from his emerald green eyes and sharp cheekbones that no longer hid behind the frames of his glasses. _Almost_.

"Hi, Kota." I stepped up to him and smiled meekly. With his height and my relative shortness, my nose came even with his bare chest. It was nicely defined.

"Hi, Sang," he greeted me back with his cheeks tinged pink.

Kota did not put on a pair of shoes the entire time. I was mortified I would accidentally step on his bare feet with the Death Heels and impale him, turning the assignment into a medical emergency. In my efforts to avoid his toes, I wound up stumbling even more. I had outright slipped and sprawled all over the white floor twice on my time with Kota. Both times, the clamor was met with a chorus of, "Sang!" before half a dozen arms pull me back upright. I cringed, worried I was wasting valuable time and making Ms. Christine mad for the lack of productivity. Once she confirmed I wasn't hurt, she merely chuckled and tossed me a bone by getting me to adjust the pose into something more stable.

The poses with Kota were vastly different. They lacked the cuddly and intimacy I was use to with the other guys. Ms. Christine had me tugging on the collar as if I were choking him, but that wasn't as odd as the time he had to look straight up at the ceiling, exposing his throat to me as I leaned into him, sticking my tongue out as for as it anatomically could to lick the spiked studs. When I wasn't rolling my eyes toward my ear to look into the camera lens, my gaze was transfixed on his bobbing Adam's apple. Kota did a lot of kneeling in that meditating position as I stood over him in various ways. The props I used earlier came back, mainly the whip, to which we circled around Kota's torso and arms. Mr. Blackbourne informed me I was supposed to be emanating an aura of dominance, and the poses were suggestive of Kota surrendering all control and power to me. I managed to school my features by pretending to be Mr. Blackbourne as he stalked around the music room during my violin lessons, channeling the intimidation and demand for obedience. Of course, this never was admitted aloud to anyone else I die from embarrassment.

Other than licking Kota's collar, the most awkward pose between the two of us had to be when I had to shove the pointed toe of my boot under the strap of leather at his neck. Luke set up a stool for me to sit on to make sure I did not accidentally stab the heel of my shoe through his sternum and puncture a lung as he lay on the floor for the photo. The seat did ease some of my apprehension, but not alleviate it entirely. I shook the entire time, and it only got worse when Kota pet my calf and said he trusted me. The problem was I did not trust myself.

"There's all this collar play going on," Luke rambled on somewhere behind me. "Why don't we just hook a leash onto him?" A leash? Kota wasn't a dog. Did they expect me to walk him?

Ms. Christine snickered in between camera clicks. "I was considering one, but decided against it. I figured it was just a little too underground kinky to be displayed in public bookstores. Gotta keep things in perspective of the final product, you know?" Thus, Kota did not have to role play as Max on a walk.

Good news! Kota did not die that day from my clumsiness. He even managed to survive the part where North joined us for the trio shots. His Academy training kept his reflexes sharp enough to avoid the sharp point of my heels.

With the three of us together on the set, Luke and Mr. Blackbourne erected the scaffolding once more so Ms. Christine could get a bird's eye view of the three of us laying in a circle with our heads together. I thought it was a little cliché when Luke sprinkled blood red rose petals around us as accents. My aching feet were forgotten when the three of us were instructed to hold hands with each other, putting our fists up and in between our shoulders. That pose sent warm tingles down my spine, and I had to fight to keep the smile off my face as I indulged in the thought of us all connected together. If only I could find an opportunity to recreate this picture with all ten of us…

I was vaguely aware of people calling my name repeatedly, but I did not snap back into awareness until a commanding bark of, "Miss Sorenson!" split my ears. I jolted to an upright sitting position and nearly took out Luke who was hovering over me.

"You okay, Sweetie?" the blonde asked me, concern and worry evident in his chocolate eyes.

"Yeah?" I answered hesitantly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Luke's hand gently wiped at the corner of my lips. "You were drooling."

My eyebrows climbed to my hairline as my eyes grew wide. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry!" I had fallen asleep while lying there on the white floor after Ms. Christine instructed me to 'gaze wistfully into the distance in the direction of the stairs.' How long had it been since I drifted off? How far back did I delay things? Did the assignment fail because of me? Ms. Christine had to be so disappointed in me. My skin flushed red and my heart sank to the floor when I thought of the disappointment I had to be in Mr. Blackbourne's eyes. Tears threatened to well up in my eyes, but I tried my hardest to keep the moisture locked away. If I ruined the makeup, I would only delay things more.

Kota lightly touched my elbow as he scooted closer to me. "It's alright, Sang. You're exhausted."

North sidled up to my other side, and I fought the urge to crawl into his lap. "You're not the only one, Baby," he said to me as he nodded toward the other side of the studio. I squinted into the darkness but could not see anything until Luke took out his cell phone and used the light from the screen to illuminate a figure slumped over some props. "Gabe has been out for the past fifteen minutes."

With some tilting of my head, I could see Gabriel draped over the crate, his elbow covering his eyes. His chest rhythmically rose and lowered with his breathing.

I looked up at Ms. Christine on the scaffolding. She had her chin resting in her palm and amusement twinkled in her eyes. "I'm sorry, ma'am," I apologized. "I did not mean to hold up progress."

"Oh, don't mind me," Ms. Christine answered with a smile. "We're in the home stretch anyways. This isn't the first time I've had people fall asleep on my set either. I'm starting to think I'm boring," she chuckled.

"Oh no! You're far from boring!" I squeaked.

"Thank you, Missy. But before we can move forward again, I'll need Gabriel to touch up your lip color."

My fingers gently prodded the edge of my lips trying to inspect them without a mirror at my disposal. I must have smudged the makeup when I took my unintended nap. Thankfully, it was a quick fix once Luke nudged Gabriel awake.

The shoot wrapped up after North, Kota, and I performed the obligatory compromising positions with me sandwiched between their hard, bare chests. I couldn't decide which pose was most embarrassing in the end: the one where I had to lick Kota's collar spikes again with North sinking his teeth into my shoulder, or where North had to make out with the knee of my leather pants while Kota nibbled onto the toes of my boot. Of course, I was wearing said pants and shoes while they did this.

The shoot wrapped up and the assignment concluded after we all helped to clean up.

"Can I burn these shoes, Meanie?" I asked once I managed to extract myself from the Death Heels. My feet sang a song of agony as I tried to slip my sandals onto them, and standing proved to be quite a chore once my arches realized they had to adjust to a different weight distribution.

"What? You don't like them?" Gabriel gasped in mock horror as he gathered the pair from my arms and shoved them into a box.

"I don't want to see them ever again," I sighed.

Once everything had been put away and we gave the garage a thorough sweep, we bid our farewells to Ms. Christine. She shook all our hands firmly with a giant grin on her face, but I noticed the dark circles under her eyes. She was just as tired as the rest of us, and I realized she was on her feet the most. "Thank you," I said to her. "This was fun, and I learned more than I could imagine."

"I'm the one who needs to thank _you,_ Sang. You're a natural. Call me up if you ever need personal photos done. I expect to be the photographer at yours and Gabriel's wedding, alright?"

The hottest blush yet waved over me, the burn reaching all the way down to my toes. "W- _wedding?_" I stammered.

Gabriel materialized at my side and wrapped his arm around my waist before planting a wet and sloppy smooch on my cheek. "We haven't set a date yet," he said to Ms. Christine, "but we're certainly keeping your card."

Rendered speechless, Gabriel laughed at me and led me to the cars to depart.

Mr. Blackbourne joined us for dinner at Uncle's diner, but had to leave shortly after he finished his meal. Before he left, he pulled me aside and away from the others for a word. "You did exceptionally well, Miss Sorenson. I'm proud of you."

"I didn't mess everything up?" I asked, my nerves suddenly catching up to me to where I was shaking and biting my lip.

"No. This assignment was an amazing success because of you. You helped us out of a bind, and I am very thankful. I know I can rely on you, and you never disappoint." He placed his hands on my shoulders, rubbing them back and forth just enough to get my nerves to calm and shaking to cease. "You're beautiful and alluring, and no one else could have done those pictures justice."

One more blush overtook me at those words, and it only intensified when he brought the back of my hand to his lips for a gentlemanly and tender departing kiss. "Good night, Miss Sorenson."

"Good night, Mr. Blackbourne."

The rest of us retired back to Nathan's house when we were done at the diner. Nathan was already there and was excited to hear the report of the day's events. Kota was more than willing to massage my feet as we discussed different aspects of the weekend with each other. Kota was even kind enough to apply his foot rubbing talents to Gabriel after whining he did not get enough pampering for all the work he did. He promptly fell asleep minutes after Kota started.

At some point, I had also fallen asleep during the chatter, only waking long enough to register kisses on my forehead from Luke and North as they left for the evening, then to realize I was being carried to the bed in a cloud of spicy scent. I caught a brief glimpse of Gabriel, still sleeping, being carried similarly by Nathan right behind us. We both were deposited onto Nathan's bed and tucked in by Kota. I got more kisses on my cheeks before Kota and Nathan stepped out.

"Oy," Gabriel whispered drunkenly. "I want night-night kisses too."

"They left already, Meanie," I giggled.

"Shut up and come here, Trouble." He rolled to his side and curled around me. I wrapped my arm around him and tangled my legs among his own before placing a kiss on the tip of his nose. "Goodnight, Gabriel."

"Goodnight, Sang."

THE END

**A/N: I wanted to call them "bitch boots" so badly. I had to go back and edit several times to change it to "Death Heels," chastising myself because Sang wouldn't use the same terminology I would. Gabe's right. She's too innocent. And I'm so ornery.**

**I'm sad I won't work with Ms. Christine anymore. She kinda grew on me and worked insanely well with the guys.**

**Up next! The Epilogue! Stay tuned.**


	11. Epilogue

My treasure was coming along beautifully. There was still a lot of work to do before it was finished, but I didn't mind. Every time I pulled it out to put more together, I was floating in bliss.

This time, I found myself kneeling on the floor in Dr. Green's living room. The mild mess before me on the coffee table stuck out sorely in the otherwise immaculately clean and tidy condo. My belly was full of homemade cooking I prepared for my pair of baby sitters for the night. They praised my culinary skills and demanded they would clean up for me. I didn't argue since I had been meaning to work on my little project anyways and I did not know when I would come across another opportunity.

Mr. Blackbourne was sitting in an armchair nearby, intently reading a thick file and occasionally tapping away on his phone. I assumed it to be Academy business, so I made sure to keep as quiet as I could and not disturb him.

Dr. Green came in drying his hands with a dish towel and stopped a pace away. He peered over my shoulder, interested in what I was doing. "What's that, Pookie?"

I looked up at him and smiled before flipping the pages of the book in front of me to show him. "I'm putting together a picture album of our family," I answered simply.

In the beginning of the book were the pictures the boys put in my secret attic hideaway when I still lived in the grey house my blood father had bought. There were also photos we all had taken with our phones I had printed out, from football games at the high school we attended, to flirtatious selfies and other random moments of my crazy time spent with my favorite guys.

Sean bent over my shoulder to get a closer look. "Good god. Those are over a year old. Isn't that from about the time we first found you?"

I nodded. It seemed like ages ago now, and so much has changed. I have become such a better person from the scared little girl I was back then, and I was organizing the album chronologically to reflect the growth in us all. Sean kneeled close by and leaned into me, pressing his chin into my shoulder to gaze more and get lost in the memories with me as I flipped through more pages to reveal more images. "I'm up to these pictures." I took a stack of card stock prints and spread them across the coffee table surface. They were the images from the photo shoot I had with the seven guys commissioned for romance novel covers. The collage had a handful from each set we modeled in, the first being the picture that wound up put on the covers of the novels. The Academy guy who edited the pictures before they were produced to the public was kind enough to send us an un-altered copy of each picture for us, so these cover images reflected our true faces. The other pictures were of my favorite shots from the whole ordeal.

"Damn, Pookie. We need to get some pictures of you and me done," Sean said with a chuckle before placing a chaste kiss on my cheek. "Do we still have the number to that photographer?"

I raised my eyebrow at him. "Have you done that before? A professional photo shoot as a model? I clearly remember it was no picnic."

"Actually..." Sean leaned further into me as he fished out his phone from his pant pocket.

"Dr. Green," Mr. Blackbourne said with warning in his tone. Apparently he overheard the whole conversation, not like I had a problem with it.

"What?" Dr. Sean feigned innocence as he started tapping and swiping around his phone in the purple case, navigating around his photo albums.

"Sean, no." Mr. Blackbourne called again, only this time with a note of desperation in his voice.

"Yes, Owen. Yes, yes, and yes." Dr. Sean chanted with a maniacal glee before holding his phone in front of me to see.

I blinked, not quite realizing what I was looking at. When I did, I snatched his phone away and held it closer to my face, my nose nearly pressing up against the glass surface. "Is this...?"

"Yes," Dr. Sean answered, the crazed joy still there. "Look at the next one too."

The first picture was an advertisement for a brand of men's underwear I did not recognize, not that I made a habit of becoming familiar with them to begin with. I did recognize the person wearing the underwear, though. Sitting in a slightly provocative pose was Dr. Sean Green wearing nothing but a pair of white briefs and a radiant smile that stole my heart. I noted there was not one follicle of hair on his body.

I was afraid to swipe to the next picture, but my morbid curiosity won out. My thumb pushed the picture of a nearly-naked Dr. Sean away to reveal another picture of...

Owen Blackbourne. His steel eyes stared straight out of the little glass screen and bore straight into my own. His expression was all seriousness, and he wore nothing but the briefs and his black frames perched his nose.

I looked up at him in the chair nearby with my eyes wide and nearly popping out of my skull in disbelief. Mr. Blackbourne in the here and now made every effort to avoid eye contact with me by staring adamantly at a spot on wall across the living room. His ears were the same shade as his red suit tie.

Dr. Sean was rolling all over the floor, crippled by laughter at seeing his best friend's reaction.

I looked at the picture again. The advertisement said in a simple type, "Sleek and Comfort, All In One Brief."

**A/N: Thank you for reading this crazy fan fiction! I sincerely hope it made you chuckle at least once.**

**It was an insane ride to finish this story. Toward the end, Kota was adamantly fighting against me, preventing me from writing his part like I wanted. He made it clear he did not want to appear in leather… or a collar… But we muscled through, didn't we Kota?**

…**Kota? Where'd you go?**

**Crap. I need to find a way to work my way back into his good graces. While I'm doing that, I need new humorous ideas for new stories. Send me some inspiration, please!**


End file.
